VIDEO: The fire believed to have been sparked by illegal fireworks that severely damaged a South Buffalo house Friday offered a pair of grim reminders.
One was of the danger of fireworks. The other was of a tragedy that still resonates within the Buffalo Fire Department.
“This fire was eerily similar to a fire that took the life of one of our firefighters, Michael Seguin, some 23 years ago,” Fire Commissioner William Renaldo said.
Seguin, 30, had been a firefighter for four years in 1997 when he and firefighter Harold Emerson, both of Engine 33, carried a hose to the attic of a Kehr Street house shortly before 11 p.m. Superheated gases had accumulated there and were ignited when the fumes were exposed to fresh air in a deadly phenomenon called flashover. Emerson was seriously injured.
Firefighters tried to revive Seguin at the scene, but he was pronounced dead at Erie County Medical Center. The cause was smoke inhalation.