C.J. LIN
Times-Picayune

A fire that broke out in Gretna on Friday night at a city building official's home claimed the life of one firefighter and sent a couple of other people to the hospital.

Ricky Christiana, a 20-year veteran, died of a heart attack. He was 44. He had served as a paid firefighter under four chiefs at the David Crockett Steam Fire Company No. 1.

Christiana suffered the heart attack while he was fighting a three-alarm fire that broke out around 9:30 p.m. at 202 Hamilton St., the home of Danika Gorrondona, who is Gretna's code and building inspector.

"What a heroic man to be out there to try to save our home," Gorrondona said. "I'm just so thankful to his family. It's a tragic thing to happen during another tragedy."

Christiana had been helping pull fire hoses and had walked off to take a break. He went down a few minutes later, said Fire Chief George Burnetz Jr. Christiana was taken to Ochsner West Bank Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

"Whenever you lose a family member, especially in community service, it's very, very difficult," said Gretna Police Department Maj. Anthony Christiana, Ricky Christiana's first cousin. "Under the circumstances, that it was Danika's house, it adds a little more sympathy to it."

The fire was called in by a neighbor who had stepped out for a cigarette and noticed flames coming from the Gorrondonas' attic, according to Mayor Ronnie Harris. The neighbor broke down the door and alerted Gorrondona, who had been asleep in a second-floor bedroom. Her husband escaped through a back window and was in the intensive care unit at Oschner for two nights for smoke inhalation.

Most of the roof and upstairs portion of the house had been destroyed, Burnetz said.

One city official, who had been among several to gather at the home Saturday night to help the couple, was sent to the hospital after becoming ill, Harris said.

"It was a bad weekend for Gretna," Harris said.

Christiana's death comes almost one year after the death of his colleague, Ralph Arabie. Arabie, 48, was killed in the line of duty on Sept. 29 when a boom on one of the station's fire trucks pinned his head to the back of the truck. Arabie was the first on-duty casualty at the department in 30 years.

Visitation hours for Christiana will be tonight from 6 to 10 p.m. at Mothe Funeral Home, 2100 West Bank Expressway, Harvey. Visitation will continue Wednesday from 9 to 11 a.m. and a procession to Westlawn Cemeteries, at 1225 Whitney Ave., will pass the fire station.

Copyright 2009 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company
September 15, 2009