Ironbound Firehouses Dedicated for Two Fallen Newark Firefighters

NEWARK — The memories of fallen firefighter captains Augusto “Augie” Acabou and Wayne “Bear” Brooks Jr. were fresh in the minds of family, colleagues and friends on Tuesday morning as the city dedicated two Ironbound firehouses in their honor.

Family members pulled black cloths from plaques affixed to the front of Engine 16 on Ferry Street, where Acabou, 45, worked, and Engine 27 on Elm Road, where Brooks, 49, worked. The back-to-back ceremonies were held just over a year after Acabou and Brooks died fighting a cargo ship fire aboard Grande Costa d’Avorio at Port Newark.

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Fifty years from now, new recruits will see the plaques and search for the firefighters’ names online, Newark Firefighters Union Vice President Eddie Paulo said.

“It might not be on their first shift when they walk into this firehouse,” Paulo told the gathering on Ferry Street. “It might be on their third or their fourth, when they Google ‘Capt. Augusto Augie Acabou.’ They’re going to realize they’re walking into a firehouse a hero worked at.”

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Paulo recalled Acabou coming into his bar once feeling down.

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“I’m trying to poke at him to find out what’s wrong with me,” Paulo said. “And he says to me, ‘dude, you got so much going on in your life. You want the burden of what’s going on in mine? … I’m not going to do that to you.’ ”

They played darts, they joked, and they drank, even though Acabou did not normally imbibe, Paulo said. Acabou, however, didn’t let on as to what was bothering him.

“He was so worried about burdening me with his issues that he would not share what he was going through,” Paulo said.

The dedications, Mayor Ras J. Baraka said, were about the lives and spirits of the fallen firefighters.

“These two guys were Newark people, raised in our community – East Side High School, St. Benedict’s,” Baraka said. “Their friends, their family are from around these neighborhoods. Their lives were lived (here). They fought their careers here in this city.”

Baraka discussed preparation so that future such deaths do not happen.

“When we say their names, hopefully, it inspires us, it commits us, it convicts us to do better than what we’ve already done,” he said.

Acabou’s family members embraced each other, shed tears and held up their hands to touch the plaque mounted on the brick front of the firehouse after pulling down the cloth.

The ceremonies marked a moment in which city officials and the families came together in their mourning – something that has not always happened amid both the federal investigation into the blaze and a wrongful death lawsuit lodged by the fallen firefighters’ families.

“I am glad, and the family is glad as well, that they continue to honor these fallen heroes,” Jason Brooks, 41, brother of Wayne Brooks Jr., told TAPinto Newark. “I couldn’t ask for anything better to honor them. Their names will be here after we’re gone.”

At the ceremony for Brooks, Fire Chief Del Ortiz said the department promises never to forget the fallen firefighter.

“It’s been a long year,” Ortiz said. “As I stand here, it’s evident the pain and anguish the Brooks family is going through has not subsided. Michele and family, as those memories come out of your eyes and roll down your cheeks, I want you to know that we will be here to catch those tears.”

Newark Fire Capt. Gregory Meehan worked with Brooks directly. “I loved working with Wayne every single day,” Meehan said

“This dedication here is for you guys in the back. The ones that just came on the job,” Meehan said. “You get to work with the guys that are going to tell you the stories about Brooks. The other ones are going to tell you stories about how good his cooking was, and how you have to start cooking yourself.”

The true memorial for Acabou and Brooks is in the minds and the hearts of those who knew him, Meehan said, motioning to his head and chest.

“He was a great man,” Meehan said. “Nobody can deny it. This just emphasizes the fact.”

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