Children choose careers that keep firefighter’s memory alive

Bells tolled across the South Side in honor of Chicago firefighter and paramedic Daniel Capuano, who died in the line of duty 10 years ago Sunday.

At the Engine 72 fire station in Avalon Park, dozens of fire department members and Capuano’s close family and friends gathered, red-cheeked and sipping coffee, catching up with old friends. Outside, fire trucks, including one topped with a plastic Santa Claus, turned on their headlights. A prayer was followed by loving words from the family and colleagues who knew him.

Capuano died on the job after falling into an open elevator shaft while battling a fire at a vacant South Side warehouse on Dec. 14, 2015. The 43-year-old was a father of three and a 15-year member of the Chicago Fire Department at the time of his death.

Known for her sense of humor, Capuano’s daughter, Amanda Capuano, believes that if her father had been there with them, he would have cheered them up.

“I think he definitely would have made a joke to lighten the mood because that’s just kind of who he was,” Amanda, 26, said. “He would certainly be very honored to see everyone gathered here for him.”

Amanda was 16 when her father died. She grew up aspiring to be a high school history teacher, but after her father’s death, she chose the path of nursing. Today, she is an emergency room nurse at a suburban hospital.

“I felt so angry for the first few years after it happened, and then one day I decided I could do better than that,” Amanda said. “I can be better than that, and I’m going to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

She graduated from Loyola University Chicago Nursing School in 2022 and attended Mother McAuley High School in Mount Greenwood. She remembers her father driving for hours to his cheerleading championships.

In 2015, Amanda wrote a letter that was read by her father’s colleagues at his funeral. “In 8th grade, during the blizzard, he took the train to see me compete at state,” she wrote. “I forgot my coat in the hallway and my dad made me wrap towels around my shoulders so I wouldn’t get cold.”

At Sunday’s Mass, she stood next to her brother Andrew, 24, who started working this summer as a Chicago firefighter like his father.

“I would like to think that we all learned from him and followed in his footsteps in some way,” Amanda said.

Capuano’s widow, Julie Capuano, said seeing everyone at her late husband’s memorial service — from the firefighters to the hockey kids he coached — warmed her heart.

Julie was 22 when she married Cupuano. Soon after, they moved in together and had three children: Amanda, Andrew and Nick. It was just before Christmas that she learned that her husband had died.

“I’m broken inside losing you Dan. I’m just not sure what I’m going to do. I will miss your hands and your face, your funny sense of humor, your loving touch, your kisses and our conversations together,” Julie said in her letter read at the funeral.

The building, located in the 9200 block of South Baltimore Avenue, was called an “immediate and continuing threat of irreparable harm” to the public. City Building Department officials said the building’s owners did not have the proper permits and the elevator’s removal was unauthorized, the Tribune reported in 2015. Capuano’s family filed a lawsuit against the building’s owners.

Retired Fire Capt. and Battalion Chief Jake Jakubec was with Capuano that day, he said. Around 10 a.m., he stopped in front of a smoke-filled warehouse. There were bricks on the second floor lying around like construction work and he didn’t notice that there was nothing protecting the elevator shaft.

Then he remembers hearing “mayday, mayday!” » A firefighter had fallen through the ground; it was Capuano.

“It affected me for 18 months. I wasn’t right,” said Jakubec, who is now retired after working with the fire department for more than 40 years. “I prayed a lot, I came to the site, we put a cross here, so it was very emotional for me,” he said.

A tall wooden cross stands today where Capuano is believed to have died. It reads: “Daniel Capuano, never forget”.