Bravest blue line honors fallen hero
“He was a perfect dad.” Two of Battalion Chief Michael Fahy’s three young children shared their love for their hero dad with thousands who turned out to mourn him on Saturday.
“My dad was a fair, kind and honest man and a wonderful dad,” said Anna, 8. “He was also a great athlete, cook, musician and very brave. He was a perfect dad. He was coaching sports games and fighting fires.”
“Dad, you are the greatest,” said Michael, 11. “I could always count on you to be there when I needed you. You were always there on the sidelines for every game cheering me on. I know you are proud of me and I am so proud of you. Dad, you’re my hero.”
Anna and Michael felt “very strongly” about delivering their thoughts, their mother Fiona explained to the crowd that packed the Church of the Annunciation in Yonkers.
Worshippers applauded the children’s tributes, providing a smile amid the sadness for the family members, FDNY colleagues and other mourners who exceed the church’s capacity and crowded the parish school auditorium across the street.
About 10,000 attended the funeral, including fellow firefight- ers from as far off as California.
Fahy, 44, was killed Tuesday in an explosion at a Bronx home that was the site of a marijuana grow house. The rental property on West 234th Street in Kingsbridge blew up as firefighters were investigating a gas leak.
The 17-year FDNY veteran was a rising star in the department.
Fiona Fahy expressed heartfelt thanks for the outpouring of love for her husband and support for their family.
“I am nowhere near even starting to try to make sense of any of this. I don’t think that any of us are,” she said. “The thing that will be the hardest to understand is him not being there to watch his children grow up.
“Mike would climb a hundred mountains to be with his children, to protect them, so I have to believe in my heart that my brilliant, hardworking and analytical doer of a husband has already figured it out. And he really is here with us. And he always will be here with us.”
The Fahys’ third child, Cormac, turned 6 last weekend.
Mayor de Blasio told the children they should take comfort knowing their father was a hero.
“Even when you are grown up, decades from now, good times and bad, you will be able to rely on that knowledge,” de Blasio said. “And it will strengthen you.”
Two men believed to have been part of the drug operation were arrested in the days following the explosion, in which 20 others were injured.