SOUTH CHICAGO — Chicago firefighter Daniel Capuano was remembered Wednesday morning with a bell-ringing ceremony exactly a year after his fatal fall in a smoky warehouse fire.
Firefighters from throughout the city gathered for the ceremony at the South Chicago firehouse where Capuano was stationed when he responded to a call around 1:30 a.m. to extinguish a warehouse fire at 92nd Street and Baltimore Avenue.
"Even after a year, I still can't believe he's gone," Julie Capuano said. The widow's eyes swelled with tears has a bell was struck with the pattern of 3-3-5 — the long-held cadence used by the fire department to indicate a deceased firefighter has returned home.
The Mount Greenwood couple have three teenage children — Amanda, Andrew and Nicholas. Amanda also attended the ceremony at her father's former firehouse along with her grandparents and other family members.
"The guys have all been really good," Julie Capuano said of her late husband's co-workers. "It's an honor for him, and that's what he deserved."
Daniel Capuano was a 15-year veteran of the Chicago Fire Department. He joined the department as a paramedic in 2001 and became a firefighter four years later. He also worked on his off-days as a fireman in suburban Evergreen Park.
Capuano also served as a volunteer hockey coach with the St. Jude Knights Hockey Club. Both of his sons played for the club, and he helped work with players in the off-ice training center.
Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago was among about 100 people who attended the ceremony. He choked up while thanking those in attendance and noted how difficult the loss has been for the Capuano family.
"I've been through a lot of hard things on this job. This one, this hurts. To see [Julie Capuano] that night, you have no idea how hard that is," Santiago said.
Bryan Velez of Jefferson Park arrived on the scene in a ladder truck with Capuano and three other firefighters that fateful morning. It was the crew's second fire of the day, and they were the second team on the scene.
"Dan was a worker. You didn't have to guide him much. He knew what he was doing," Velez said Wednesday.
The group began by searching the first floor of the smoke-filled building that was under construction, looking for the source of the fire. Falling embers hinted that the fire was on the second floor. So the team headed upstairs where the visibility was next to nothing, Velez said.
The firefighters crawled on their hands and knees looking for the fire. Velez went to the right. Capuano went left. It was quickly determined that the search was too dangerous as holes were spread across the floor, he said.
Velez called to regroup and learned shortly thereafter that Capuano — a friend and fellow father whom he'd known for 15 years and shared many stories — had fallen through one of the holes in the floor and landed in the basement.
"I couldn't tell you what I did a week ago, but I can tell you exactly what happened a year ago today," Velez said. "We are all grieving, but nobody is grieving like the family."
Brian Livermore of Beverly retired from the fire department Monday, but he was back in uniform Wednesday to attend the ceremony honoring Capuano. The two firefighters knew each other as co-workers and through coaching youth sports on the Far Southwest Side.
Livermore delivered T-shirts to Capuano's family. The shirts were worn by a team of firefighters in August as part of a 16-inch softball tournament. The group paid tribute to Capuano by putting his name on their uniforms.
Livermore said tragedies such as what happened to Capuano hit home for firefighters and other first responders. Most of these men and women perform the jobs often without thinking too much about it.
"You don't think about [the risk] when you are on your way to work or at you at work," he said. "But things like this make you realize just how dangerous [the job] really is."
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