His legacy lives on.
A Long Island man who lost his heroic firefighter father in a devastating Bronx blaze two decades ago became a smoke-eater himself Friday — along with hundreds of other FDNY graduates.
Dennis Meyran, 36, of Wantagh, was inspired by his late dad, Lt. Curtis Meyran, who leaped to his death to avoid burning alive after giving up his hose to colleagues at an apartment fire in January 2005.
Meyran said his “dad’s memory” and “trying to make him proud” kept him going through the hardest parts of his 18-week-long stint at the FDNY training academy.
“I just wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps and wanted to be a fireman since I could remember,” he said.
“[I have] memories of him going to the firehouse as a kid, and meeting all the guys, and seeing how much everybody liked him. Those are the things I carry with me every day,” he said.
During training, Meyran said he, “made a lot of good friends and brothers for life.”
Meyran, who comes from a long line of firefighters on his father’s side of the family, said he was “happy to continue that” legacy.
“I’m super excited, very excited, I want to help the city,” he said.
Meyran is one of 289 “probie” firefighters who graduated at the ceremony at Queens College Friday and will soon be stationed at firehouses around the city.
Meyran was just a teenager on Jan. 23, 2005, when his dad was called to an inferno on 178th St. in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx.
The elder Meyran was 46 years old and a 15-year FDNY veteran when he rushed to the fourth floor of the building to battle the blaze.
He and firefighter John Bellew were ordered to give their hose to firefighters battling the main blaze on the third floor after an erroneous report that the lower-level hose had burst, according to reports at the time.
As flames closed in, Meyran and Bellew made the desperate decision to leap 50 feet from the fourth floor. Both died from the fall.
The day was dubbed “Black Sunday” after another firefighter, Richard Sclafani, was killed in a Brooklyn blaze.
At Friday’s graduation ceremony, Chief of Department John Esposito told graduates that bravery is “baseline” in the FDNY.
“To become a firefighter is to rush toward danger when others stand back. It means you swore an oath to put the lives of strangers ahead of your own. That decision, that bravery is what separates the FDNY from most,” he said.
“From here on, our bravery is your baseline.”
FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker told The Post the younger Meyran’s story of joining the Bravest is bittersweet.
“This is one of the sad, but amazing things about this fire department. We have so many legacy members coming on to the job now, and it’s really beautiful to see,” he said.
