New York’s Bravest gathered at the entrance to a Staten Island hospital to cheer a fire marshal who was critically injured in a deadly explosion as doctors sent him back home to his family on Thursday.
Fire Marshal Christopher Cuccaro said he still has some healing to do after being caught in the vicious blast that tore through a dockyard in Mariners Harbor, but that he’s happy to be alive and eager to get back to work.
“I can’t hear — but I’ll be back,” Cuccaro told reporters following his release from Staten Island University Hospital.
A member of the FDNY’s Fire Marshal K-9 unit, Cuccaro was searching for the missing workers at the dockyard alongside his dog, Judge, when he was caught in the blast, an FDNY spokesman said.
“Things happen very quickly,” said Bryan Waite, another member of the fire marshal’s K-9 unit, who, along with Judge, traveled to the Staten Island hospital to celebrate Cuccaro’s release. “It was a beautiful day, we were standing in the background and then, next thing you know, the explosion happened.”
The blast wave caused a fracture on the right side of Cuccaro’s skull and bleeding on the left side of his brain, which required him to be intubated as doctors monitored his brain for swelling.
“This is a perfect example of how dangerous the life of a first responder is,” Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said following Cuccaro’s release. “The firefighters, the law enforcement, the EMTs, the medics, all the people out there to keep you safe, do it willingly knowing they could be putting their lives in danger.”
The explosion erupted at May Ship Repair on Richmond Terrace near Andros Ave. roughly 50 minutes after a fire ignited in the basement of a metal structure located at the rear of the facility around 3:30 p.m., according to fire officials.
The fire and explosion were caused by flammable paint vapors, which ignited at the shipyard, fire officials said Wednesday.
Firefighter Vincent Delgado, 36, of Ladder 80 in Port Richmond, was also seriously injured in the explosion, according to the FDNY.
Xiaoyuan Li, 56, of Flushing, Queens, who was working at the site, was killed. Thirty-six people, mostly responding firefighters, were injured in the blast.