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As Catholic New York was going to press, arrangements were being made at St. Clare’s Church on Staten Island for Thursday morning’s Funeral Mass for Lt. Gordon Matthew Ambelas, the 14-year veteran firefighter who died July 5 at a blaze in a Brooklyn high-rise apartment.
Lt. Ambelas, the first firefighter to die in the line of duty in New York City since 2012, was overcome while searching for survivors in a cluttered apartment on the 19th floor of the public housing building. Carried unconscious from the building, he later died in the hospital.
A preliminary investigation indicated an air conditioner power cord that was “pinched” between the bed and a wall might have started the fire. The search was complicated by what the fire department termed “Collyer’s Mansion conditions,” fire department parlance for a unit that is cluttered and disordered in a dangerous manner.
Lt. Ambelas, 40, leaves behind his wife, Nanette, and their two little girls, Gabriella, 8, and Giovanna, 5. A Funeral Mass is being offered at St. Clare’s Church July 10 at 11 a.m.
“This is a real tragedy,” said Msgr. Richard Guastella, pastor or St. Clare’s. “They are very, very nice people. Their daughter Gabriella made her First Communion here in May and was involved in our May crowning ceremony.” Msgr. Guastella, who interrupted his vacation to be present for the Ambelas family, will concelebrate the Mass with Msgr. John Delendick, a Brooklyn priest who is FDNY chaplain.
“I will be there to support the family and be a parish presence,” said Msgr. Guastella. FDNY Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro is also expected to attend the funeral.
“We lost a real hero tonight and our hearts are heavy,” Mayor Bill De Blasio said Saturday night. “I ask every New Yorker to keep the lieutenant in their prayers.” Lt. Ambelas, who recently was honored for rescuing a 7-year-old Hasidic boy who was trapped in a roll-down gate, was also hailed as a hero by the fire commissioner and by fellow firefighters who had served with him. But to friends and neighbors on Staten Island he was more than that.
“You know, they say how he was a hero and he is that. But for those of us who just knew him in his daily life, he was just a regular, kind, sweet gentleman and his loss is felt by so many,” an emotional Catherine Duffy, a neighbor and close friend of the Ambelas family, told CNY.
“He was amazing. He was fun. He would do anything for anybody. If you needed help with something he was there. He came and helped my husband paint my son’s room. He was so down to earth, so kind. And this loss is heartbreaking.
“I think about the future with our families and all the things that we should have done and it’s devastating,” she said. “You know, we talked about going to Disney with our families next year together. We have a pool. We were supposed to be hanging out at the pool all summer. My heart breaks for my friend and her children.”
