An FDNY firefighter from Long Beach was killed when a tree fell on his vehicle during a family vacation in North Carolina.
Casey Skudin, a highly decorated FDNY firefighter, was killed in Asheville, North Carolina when a tree fell on the SUV he and his family were in during a windstorm.
He was driving his family to see the Biltmore Estates when the incident happened at the entrance to the popular tourist attraction. Skudin was killed instantly.
Skudin’s wife Angela Skudin says the tree came out of nowhere.
“It landed right on the car, right on Casey. Everybody was knocked out except me. And I just got through the window, got over to him…his hands were blue. I held them and I kissed him and just told him the truth that he was the best husband and best father and that it was OK for him to let go. And I slid his wedding ring off his finger and put it on mine,” she says.
Skudin’s 19-year-old son Ben escaped serious injury. His 10-year-old son CJ is hospitalized with a partially collapsed lung.
A flag was flying at half-staff outside Skudin’s firehouse Ladder 137 in the Rockaways.
Joseph Durkin fought fires alongside Skudin for 16 years.
He says, “He was a great guy, great fireman, loved his family, loved his job, loved his firehouse. He was a guy you could count on. He’d do anything for you, probably give you the shirt off his back, if he could.”
Skudin’s family says he was very excited about taking his family on vacation to celebrate Father’s Day and his birthday. He would have turned 46 Sunday.
