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A N.Y. Firefighter Went to Serve in Afghanistan. He Was Killed by a Roadside Bomb. A N.Y. Firefighter Went to Serve in Afghanistan. He Was Killed by a Roadside Bomb.
(about 4 hours later)
A Bronx firefighter who was also serving in the Marines was among three American service members killed on Monday in Afghanistan when a roadside bomb struck their military convoy, fire officials announced. About once a month, Christopher A. Slutman, a New York City firefighter, exchanged his regular department uniform for the fatigues of the United States Marine Corps reserves. He had a double career — firefighter and military man — following in his father’s footsteps.
Christopher Slutman, who was a staff sergeant in the Marines, was also a decorated 15-year veteran of the New York City Fire Department, and a captain at a volunteer fire department in Landover, Maryland, where he worked in his free time. Usually, being a firefighter took precedence. But last summer, according to his father, Firefighter Slutman began traveling overseas to train for deployment in Afghanistan. He arrived there in the fall.
Firefighter Slutman, who was 43, had been a Marine Corps reservist before he began extended training last year ahead of his deployment to Afghanistan. He was scheduled to return home to his wife and three children by the end of April, his father, Fletcher Slutman, said in an interview on Tuesday. Instead, on Monday at about 8:30 p.m., two Marines in brown uniforms arrived on Mr. Slutman’s doorstep in York, Penn.
He is survived by his wife and three daughters. “Would you like to invite your wife in?” one asked him, after they had settled around the kitchen table. Mr. Slutman shook his head no. The Marine shook his head yes.
“Together, all firefighters grieve the loss of our brother, Christopher, who dedicated his life to protecting the people of this city, and our nation,” said Gerard Fitzgerald, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York. Mr. Slutman was told that his son was one of three Marines killed on Monday in Afghanistan when a roadside bomb exploded near their military convoy. An Afghan contractor and several civilians were injured.
Mr. Slutman most recently worked as a firefighter at Engine 46 Ladder 27 in the Claremont section of the Bronx. He received the department’s Fire Chiefs Association Memorial Medal for heroism in fighting a fire in July 2013. The death of Firefighter Slutman, 43, highlighted a tradition of firefighters serving dual roles in the military. Currently, 73 New York Fire Department personnel are on extended military orders in branches of the United States Armed Forces, serving around the world. The department said 1,425 of its members are military reservists or veterans.
Oleg Pelekhaty, a chief of the Kentland Volunteer Fire Department in Maryland, said in a statement that Mr. Slutman had joined his department in February 2000 and had risen to the rank of captain. A 15-year veteran in the New York City Fire Department, Firefighter Slutman served at Ladder Company 27 in the South Bronx before his most recent deployment, and had won a Fire Chief’s Association Memorial Medal in 2014 for rescuing a woman from a burning apartment.
Mr. Slutman had grown up in the area, and his father, Fletcher, had also been a firefighter in Prince George's County, Md., a Washington Post article from 1993 recounted. On Tuesday, he was remembered by Mayor Bill DeBlasio as an “American hero, a New York hero.”
His friends said they knew other firefighters who, like Mr. Slutman, felt the need to serve more, particularly after Sept. 11.
“Our job already is pretty dangerous, so for anybody to take on kind of a second career that would be as dangerous, or even more, is slightly mind-boggling,” said Michael Seilhamer, who said he worked with Mr. Slutman as a volunteer firefighter in Maryland and rented a beach house with him in Delaware for years.
“But that’s the kind of person Chris was,” he said. “He didn’t shy away from anything like that.”
Firefighter Slutman is survived by his wife, Shannon, and three daughters — McKenna, Kenley and Weslynn — who live in Delaware. Firefighter Slutman stayed in New York when he had his shifts, and returned to his family during his off days, according to his father. He also volunteered as a firefighter at the Kentland Volunteer Fire Department in Prince George’s County, Md., near where he grew up.
Oleg Pelekhaty, a chief of the Kentland Volunteer Fire Department, said in a statement that Firefigher Slutman had joined his department in February 2000 and had risen to the rank of captain.
“Through this trying time, we will remember Chris for the father, husband, brother, son, and friend that he was, the moral character he displayed daily, and the courage and conviction to serve his fellow Americans, both at home and abroad,” Chief Pelekhaty wrote on Facebook.“Through this trying time, we will remember Chris for the father, husband, brother, son, and friend that he was, the moral character he displayed daily, and the courage and conviction to serve his fellow Americans, both at home and abroad,” Chief Pelekhaty wrote on Facebook.
Matthew Lund, 39, said he had met Mr. Slutman when they both volunteered as firefighters in Kentland 19 years ago. He called Mr. Slutman, who was a few years older than him, his mentor. Matthew Lund, who met Firefighter Slutman 19 years ago at the Kentland Volunteer Fire Department, remembered him as “a real stand up guy, a very positive influence on everyone and really funny.”
“He was a real stand up guy, a very positive influence on everyone and really funny. He had a big heart and was an excellent fireman,” Mr. Lund said in a phone interview. “He had a big heart and was an excellent fireman,” Mr. Lund said.
Mr. Slutman and the two other Marines were killed on Monday when their convoy struck a roadside bomb near Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, American military forces in Afghanistan announced. An Afghan contractor was wounded, along with several other civilians. Mr. Slutman said his son joined the reserves about 14 years ago, and had deployed to Afghanistan last fall after having been deployed in Iraq about five years ago.
A United States miliary official told The Times that the Taliban was believed to be behind the attack. The fallen service members had not yet been publicly identified, in accordance with Department of Defense policy. Firefighter Slutman, who was a staff sergeant in a Marines reserve unit based in Harrisburg, Penn., is the fourth New York firefighter to die while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan since the United States began military action in the region in 2003. Firefighter Christian P. Engeldrum of Ladder 61 in the Bronx was killed in November of 2004; Lt. Christopher J. Raguso of Battalion 50 in Queens and Fire Marshal Christopher T. Zanetis were killed in March of 2018.
Fighting between the Taliban and American-backed Afghan forces has continued in recent weeks despite continuing negotiations on a framework to end the nearly 18-year war. About 14,000 American troops are stationed in Afghanistan, largely supporting the Afghan military. Seven American troops have been killed in Afghanistan this year. American military officials said Firefigther Slutman and the two other Marines killed on Monday had been in a convoy near Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, when it was struck by the roadside bomb. A United States miliary official told The Times that the Taliban was believed to be behind the attack. The fallen service members had not yet been publicly identified, in accordance with Department of Defense policy.
In March 2018, two men who served in the New York City Fire Department, Lt. Christopher Raguso and Fire Marshall Christopher Zanetis, were among seven American service members killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq, where they had been serving as part of the New York Air National Guard. Two weeks ago, a plaque dedicated to Lt. Raguso was unveiled at his former firehouse, Ladder Company 155 in Jamaica, Queens. At the Engine 46, Ladder 27 firehouse on Washington Avenue and the Cross Bronx Expressway in the Claremont section of the Bronx on Tuesday, an American flag waved at half-mast under a gray sky.
The building’s main door was emblazoned with a painted yellow train and a graffitied city backdrop, with Cross Bronx Expressway written across a ribbon above it.
At around 5 p.m., firefighters, dressed in yellow and black jackets, spilled out of the firehouse doors. About 50 stood in front of the building, while another group of visiting firefighters stood to the side in lined formation.
Three firefighters in full gear, who had been raised in the bucket of a fire engine, hung a banner in Firefighter Slutman’s honor on the top of the front of the firehouse. A bright red Marine Corps flag waved just behind them from the corner of the bucket.
This was followed by a moment of silence, and then six bagpipers played “Amazing Grace.”
“He was the epitome of a Marine, squared away,” said Bobby Eustace, the recording secretary of the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York. “He was your A-plus student of the firehouse and super efficient. Even his uniform was immaculate when he came to work. He had every skill mastered and was just truly efficient. If you needed a job done, he would get it done.”
Derek Norman contributed reporting and Susan Beachy contributed research.