Wake, Service for Fire Chief Michael Fahy

Funeral arrangements have been made for Michael Fahy, the NYFD Battalion Chief who died Tuesday in an explosion at a house being checked for a gas leak.

A Yonkers resident, Fahy, 44, grew up in Rockland County, graduating from North Rockland High School in 1990. He earned a Master’s degree in security studies from the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security.

Fahy responded Sept. 27 along with several fire units to calls reporting a gas odor at the intersection of West 234th Street and Irwin Avenue. Fahy, serving as Incident Commander, ordered fire units to search for the source of the gas odor, and to evacuate possible endangered occupants of homes in the vicinity of the odor, according to the FDNY.

Units determined the gas was emanating from 304 West 234th Street and, at about 7:30 a.m., an explosion occurred on the top floor of the house. Fahy was struck and fatally injured by falling debris. He was transported to New York-Presbyterian-the Allen Hospital where he died from his injuries.

Fahy was appointed as a firefighter in May of 1999 and was assigned to Engine Company 35 in Harlem where he worked for five years before transferring to Ladder 14, located in the same firehouse. In 2004, he was promoted to Lieutenant and was assigned to Battalion 3 in the Bronx, before being assigned to Engine 83 in the South Bronx. Upon his promotion to Captain in 2012, he was transferred to Division 1 in lower Manhattan, where he worked in multiple fire companies. After being promoted to Battalion Chief, he first worked in Battalion 20 in the Bronx before transferring to Battalion 19.

“He was on the rise, he was a star, a great man,” Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said, adding that his death was a “terrible loss not just for the Fahy family, but the fire department family.”

His father, Thomas J. Fahy, was also a battalion chief, serving 33 years before retiring in 2001.

Fahy is the 1,145th Firefighter to die in the line of duty since the FDNY’s founding in 1865. The last member of the Department to die on duty was Lieutenant Gordan M. Ambelas of Ladder 119 on July 5, 2014.

Chief Fahy is survived by his wife, Fiona, and their three children.

A wake will be held Thursday and Friday at Flower Funeral Home, 714 Yonkers Ave., Yonkers, NY 10704, from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.

A funeral Mass will be held at Annunciation Church, 470 Westchester Ave., Yonkers, NY 10707, at 11 a.m. Saturday.

PHOTO: On Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016, FDNY members draped purple and black bunting on the exterior of the firehouse where Battalion Chief Michael J. Fahy served– Battalion 19, Engine Company 75, Ladder Company 33 in the Bronx./ By: New York City Fire Department (FDNY)

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