‘BRAVERY WAS IN HIS BLOOD’
FDNY SALUTES FALLEN HERO FROM FIREFIGHTING FAMILY
He listened more than he spoke, came to work early every day and always walked in happy.
He was living his childhood dream, doing the thing he wanted to do from the moment he could put his own boots on and knew that red was a color.
“Bravery was in his blood.”
That’s what Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said Friday about Firefighter Steven Pollard, who died Sunday when he fell from a Belt Parkway bridge trying to rescue a trapped victim in a car accident.
“Steven was everything we want in a firefighter,” Nigro told mourners at Pollard’s funeral at Good Shepherd Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, not far from the expressway where the rookie lost his life. “This young man was strong, smart, hardworking and dedicated, and above all, he was brave.”
That’s high praise from the department’s highest man, but still not as poignant as the tears from the FDNY Bravest who served with Pollard every day, the ones with Pollard on the bridge when he slipped through the three-foot gap that separates the elevated lanes.
“On Sunday, what Steven
saw was a fellow human being in a crumpled SUV on the Belt Parkway,” a solemn Mayor de Blasio told a sea of mourners at the church in Marine Park.
On one side of the mayor hung a picture of Pollard in uniform, all business, ready to serve. On the other side sat Pollard's polished helmet, the ladder number “170” emblazoned on the front.
“He did not hesitate,” the mayor told the hundreds of nodding heads..”He saw someone in danger. He saw someone who needed help. In that instant he gave his life.”
Pollard, a die-hard New York Rangers fan, came from a family of firefighters. His father is a retired firefighter, and his brother has served in the department for 11 years.
Colleagues described Pollard, 30, as hardworking, loyal and quiet. He'd been on the job just 18 months.
“When it came to fire duty, Steve showed no fear,” said Timothy Klein, a firefighter at Ladder 170. “Now, on the other hand, dressing as Santa Claus absolutely terrified him.”
“He went about his business the way the ideal probationary firefighter should,” Klein said. “He earned his place in Canarsie by the way he carried himself and how he did everything the right way. There is not a doubt in my mind, or my fellow Canarsie firefighters' minds, that Steve would have filled the shoes and exceeded the expectations of his father Ray and brother Ray Jr.”
Earlier, thousands lined the streets in solemn tribute as Pollard's casket was brought inside the church. A phalanx of 59 cops on motorcycle led the procession.
A gleaming FDNY truck had carried the casket from the funeral home to the church. Nine firefighters carried the casket into the sanctuary, where about 700 mourners, most of them uniformed FDNY members, filled every seat.
Fellow firefighters lined up outside saluted the hero. FDNY Chaplain Msgr. John Delenick led the service with six other priests and Bishop Neil Tiedemann.
Fire officials said Pollard was trying to save the two people trapped in the wreckage of the crash when he slipped through a gap and fell more than 50 feet to a construction site below.