DaytonFirefighters.com

Building task-specific skill reduces the need for excessive strength and endurance by as much as 500 percent.

Wake and Funeral arrangements for fallen FDNY firefighters.

Lt. Howard Carpluk was mourned yesterday by family and friends, by fellow firefighters, and by children who live and play near the Bronx firehouse where the decorated 20-year veteran was stationed, not far from the site of the fire where he suffered fatal injuries.

Two types of people volunteer at their local fire and rescue squads: those looking to get involved in their community and those who simply "have it in their blood."

The inferno in a Bronx 99-cent store claimed its second hero yesterday - a decorated lieutenant whose relatives made sure he would continue his life's work of saving people, even after his death.

FDNY Lt. Howard Carpluk's heroic sacrifice came as no surprise to his old pal, sports commentator and former Jet quarterback Boomer Esiason.

Just last year, Michael C. Reilly told fellow town firefighters he was relieved to have made it through an eight-month ordeal battling fires as a Marine in Iraq.

The death of New York City Fire Department Lt. Howard Carpluk in a Bronx store fire continued to resonate yesterday at his home firehouse, Engine 42, where his comrades announced yesterday that they had created a memorial fund to benefit his widow and two young children.

The NYPD is probing whether a 2000 arson blaze led to Sunday's Bronx discount-store floor collapse, in which two firefighters plummeted to their deaths under piles of debris and merchandise, sources said yesterday.