By Terence Corcoran
The Journal News
Copyright 2007 The Journal News
CARMEL, N.Y. — Town firefighters were working with Putnam County officials last week in planning funeral services for Matthew Lamb of Lake Carmel, a 25-year-old emergency medical technician and Carmel firefighter who died Thursday after the ambulance in which he was riding crashed.
Calling hours have been set, and the funeral will include full fire department honors, Carmel Fire Chief Daryl Johnson said.
Calling hours at the Cargain Funeral Home in Carmel are from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. today. Members of the emergency services and Lamb’s co-workers from Empire State Ambulance Corp., in dress uniform, are expected to pay their respects in the evening.
The funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow at St. James the Apostle Church on Gleneida Avenue in Carmel. The funeral procession will then head north, past Carmel fire headquarters, for burial in Raymond Hill Cemetery.
Part of the planning, said Adam Stiebeling, Putnam’s deputy commissioner of emergency services, was to ensure that Carmel’s fire and ambulance calls were covered by outside departments tomorrow so members could attend the service. Lamb was a volunteer with Carmel’s fire department and ambulance corps.
“We’re assisting the Carmel Fire Department with arrangements and in providing mutual aid for fire and ambulance services,” Stiebeling said Friday. “We’re also helping to coordinate the logistics of the event.”
The accident happened around 5:15 a.m. Wednesday as Lamb and fellow EMT Jonathan Romero of the Bronx, 27, were returning from a call. State police said Romero apparently fell asleep while driving north on Route 9 in Garrison. Lamb was in the back.
Lamb was a nine-year volunteer firefighter and a professional EMT who hoped to become a professional firefighter. His organs were donated. He leaves his parents, Charlie Sr. and Sondra; brothers Charlie and Robbie; and his fiancee, Jennifer Gerard, to whom he was to be married on Valentine’s Day 2009.
Lamb also worked several years as a counselor at summer day camp and after-school programs at Camp Wilbur Herrlich in Patterson, most recently in 2006.
Robert Gentile, the camp’s executive director, said Lamb’s colleagues there have been calling since hearing of the accident.
“He is the all-American boy,” Gentile said. “Always smiling and happy. He really loved to be with people.”