A parade of girlfriends have paid condolence calls, Mrs. Riches said, each wearing a firehouse T-shirt from Jimmy.
And there was the mournful tolling of a firehouse bell, each ring accompanying a name, each name capturing a soul: Lizzie Adler, Rosina Cirrito, Yetta Goldstein, Gaetana Midolo, Simie Wisotsky and, every now and then, Unidentified Woman and Unidentified Man.
After each meditation a large Firehouse bell was struck, the tone echoing throughout the hall.
"You don't have time for fear, except for when you get back to the firehouse and look at each other and say, 'Wow, we almost bought it.' Then the bell rings and you go fight the next one".
It was three years ago that Baltimore began closing a few different firehouses each day — known as "rotating closures" or "rolling brownouts" — in what officials hoped would be a temporary move to tide them over until better times arrived.
Many cities have eagerly sought the grants to pay for firefighters as the budget crunch has forced fire departments in Philadelphia, San Diego and Baltimore to institute what they call "rolling brownouts," in which they shut down different firehouses each day because they cannot afford to staff them.
The names of the signers were read next, and the firehouse bell next door tolled when each of the 13 colonies was announced.
This is not the first time the Centennial Firehouse and Route 9 have gotten in each other's way.
Later this month, as on every Memorial Day, bells at the firehouse on Lake Road will toll as the name of each Congers resident who died in national service is read.
Half of the building broke apart and cascaded into the brook, which by now resembled a river and was rumbling through the village, flowing into the basements of each of the little houses along it, carrying bits of the firehouse with it.
