Arbor Day Message Board

[The Logan Times Ind.]

Community organizers and the Let's Love Logan Community Association, Friends of Wingohocking Park, and Logan News Group have announced plans for an Arbor Day ''Memorial Tree'' planting ceremony in the community.

The event will take place on Arbor Day, April 30, 2004 at the intersection of Old York Road and Lindley Avenue. The tree planting will memorialize and honor Lieutenant Derrick Harvey, a long time firefighter who gave his life in service to the community this past winter. Harvey succumbed to injuries sustained while battling a house fire in a row home in Logan.

The site of the memorial and dedication is an underused, previously blighted traffic island at a crossroads of the community. Through the support of the city managing director, Deputy Managing Director James Donaghy and the Fairmount Park Commision this event is made possible.
- The Logan Times Independent
- Logan, PA

[Red Maple]

Thank you for sharing about this memorial tree planting ceremony for Derrick Harvey. I visited Philadelphia for the first time this past March and watched as a team of firefighters raced down a street responding to a call.

Here is an article about the life of this dedicated man.

City firefighter called a caring, thoughtful leader

By Natalie Pompilio

Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted on Thu, Jan. 22, 2004

A wall of blue-clad firefighters - more than a block long and 10 deep - saluted as the pallbearers lifted Lt. Derrick Harvey's brown coffin into the air yesterday afternoon.

Harvey, a 14-year veteran of the Philadelphia Fire Department, was riding atop a red fire engine to his final resting place, accompanied by firefighters he had led.

That, they said, was as it should be.

"We're his men," said Terrence Green, an Engine 72 firefighter. "He should ride with us."

Harvey died Jan. 15, six days after being burned in a house fire. He was memorialized yesterday at Miller Memorial Baptist Church on North 22d Street, the church where he had been christened 45 years earlier.

"This is a sad day for the Philadelphia Fire Department," said Fire Commissioner Harold B. Hairston, addressing the packed North Philadelphia church. "Derrick ultimately gave his life in the service of others, and we will be diminished by his loss. May God bless and welcome Derrick."

During Harvey's career, he served in various engine companies and as an instructor at the Philadelphia Fire Academy. He was "a fireman's fireman," Lt. Claude Smith said from the pulpit, willing to help out in any way he could - be it handing out smoke detectors, or volunteering to raise money for families of deceased or disabled firefighters and police.

"Every fire department should have a Derrick Harvey," Smith said.

Firefighters came from as far away as Cleveland and Washington to honor him.

"We know what these guys are going through because we went through it 343 times a few years ago," said New York City firefighter Lawrence Brown. "Philly was there for us. They came, they worked on the pile, and we're here for them."

Those who knew Harvey said he was a great cook who made a mean broccoli casserole, an athlete who participated in every charity walk he could find, and a thoughtful, caring leader.

When one firefighter was studying for his lieutenant's exam, Harvey brought in books that would help prepare him. One day, Harvey brought lineman's pliers - used for cutting through wires - for everyone in the station.

"It just showed you how thoughtful he was. He was always thinking about everybody," colleague William Drennen said.

The Jan. 9 fire in Logan that eventually claimed Harvey's life seemed routine at first. Firefighter Jack Slivinski Jr. followed him into the smoky, pitch-black house. The floor was hot and sponge-like, meaning the fire was in the basement. Slivinski, on the job for about a year and a half, said being there "scared the :spam: out of me."

Harvey, the veteran, the teacher, spoke to him in a steady, low voice.

"He was standing right next to me, calming me down, telling me, 'It's going to be all right. It's going to be all right,' " Slivinski said.

Harvey went back outside, leaving Slivinski and another firefighter, William Glover, on the first floor. In the dark chaos, the pair became trapped. Firefighter Tom Callahan led them to safety at about the same time Harvey went back inside the house, apparently to look for them.

"That was like him," Glover said. "He wasn't one to leave his men, regardless of the situation."

Once outside, the firefighters looked for their lieutenant. They couldn't find him.

"We thought he got out, but we called him on the radio twice and he didn't answer," Slivinski said.

A search team went back into the building and found Harvey, lying face down on a beam in the basement, alive but badly burned. He had apparently fallen through the floor. He died at Temple University Hospital's burn center six days later. He was buried in Mount Lawn Cemetery in Sharon Hill.

Harvey's loss has shaken his fellow firefighters, particularly those in his engine company, and especially the rookies.

But Slivinski and others like him said they are sticking with the job, as they believe Harvey would have wanted them to.

"This is what we do," Slivinski said. "Some people are doctors, lawyers, Indian chiefs. We fight fires."

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/7765918.htm

[ebinezer]

Logan is the neighboring of North Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania. Logan was unsecured so the city bought all the houses there and demolished.
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ebinezer
Pennsylvania Drug Addiction