PHOTOS: On this day more than four decades ago, an inferno at a Sheepshead Bay supermarket claimed the lives of six firefighters — and today, as in years past, the first responders’ friends and families convened at St. Brendan’s Roman Catholic Church on Avenue O to commemorate the occasion and remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice that fateful day.
On Aug. 2, 1978, firefighters from nearly a half-dozen fire companies headed to the Waldbaum’s on Ocean Avenue between Avenues Y and Z to battle a blaze in the summer heat. The fire broke out at about 8:40 am within the business, which was undergoing renovations and the time but still open to customers.
Six firefighters fell to their deaths when the roof of the supermarket collapsed underneath them, and an additional 34 firefighters and one emergency services police officer were injured as they battled back the blaze — six of whom also plunged into the flames, but were ultimately rescued.