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Boy Regrets Sparking Blaze That Killed Firefighter

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Jan 7, 2008 11:49 am US/Eastern

Boy Regrets Sparking Blaze That Killed Firefighter

FDNY Considers Fire To Be Accidental

BROOKLYN (AP) ― The 6-year-old boy who ignited a fire in his family's apartment that killed a veteran fire lieutenant is sorry for what he did, his mother said.

"He has been crying, saying 'I didn't mean to do it. I didn't mean to do it."' Emmanuel Watkin-Harris' mother, Hadassa, told the Daily News in Monday editions.

FDNY Lt. John Martinson was killed in the blaze on Thursday at a Brooklyn high-rise that began when Emmanuel placed a piece of Christmas wrapping on a lit stove and then tried to hide it from his mother under a bed. His colleagues said they forgive the boy.

"This was John's life, his love," said FDNY Lt. George Reese, who had worked with Martinson. "This child didn't know anything and no one should hold anything against this child. John would have been the first one in, last one out -- no matter what."

Thomas Reilly, a captain at Engine Co. 249 in Brooklyn where Martinson was stationed said the loss of his colleague was painful.

"The guys in the fire house are really going to miss his leadership and his ability to connect with the younger men," he told the Staten Island Advance in Monday editions.

Hundreds gathered at the Casey McCallum Rice South Shore Funeral Home in Staten Island on Sunday to mourn Martinson, who had earned the nickname "Johnny Nice Guy."

Fire officials said that the boy faces no charges because they consider the fire an accident.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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