Firefighter Timothy Klein died in the line of duty Sunday when the second floor ceiling of a Brooklyn house collapsed. He's the second FDNY member from Ladder Company 170 killed in the line of duty in just over three years.
Klein, 31, served the department for over six years, following alongside his father and several other family members working for the department, Acting FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said.
Standing shoulder to shoulder, hundreds of FDNY personnel gathered outside of Brookdale Hospital late Sunday for a brief procession as Klein's body was removed from the medical center.
"I cannot describe the heartbreak of the FDNY today, to have lost a member doing what our members do best, putting their lives on the line to save others," Kavanaugh said at a press briefing Sunday evening.
Klein responded to the Canarsie house on Avenue N shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday. FDNY officials said he was inside the structure with other firefighters when the structure became too unstable and they were called back to evacuate.
Before Klein and the others could make it out, part of the second-floor ceiling collapsed, trapping the 31-year-old.
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Klein, the acting commissioner explained, is the second member of Ladder Company 170 lost on the job in a matter of years.
Steven Pollard, 30, died Jan. 2019, helping victims of a car crash on the Belt Parkway after he fell more than 50 feet off the Mill Basin overpass.
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At Pollard's funeral, Klein described him as the "kind of man who would have a lasting impact on not only his Canarsie family, but with everyone he came in contact with."
Klein was appointed to the FDNY on Dec., 28, 2015, according to the department, and joined Ladder Company 170 in Canarsie after graduating the Fire Academy.
"New York City has lost one of its bravest today," Mayor Eric Adams said.
Klein, of Queens, is survived by his parents and three sisters.
