Mr. Neglia’s parents, Quirico and Marilyn, who traveled here from Florida, were each held up by two firefighters as they walked down the center aisle. Mr. Neglia’s mother could be heard weeping over the din of bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace.” The fire that took Mr. Neglia’s life early Saturday morning, at 1813 Bergenline Avenue in Union City, was started when a resident tossed a cigarette down the building’s air shaft, the Hudson County prosecutors said earlier this week. No charges will be filed, officials said, describing what happened as careless but not criminal.  Mr. Neglia and three other firefighters were searching for residents in an apartment on the top floor of the three-story building when the ceiling gave way as fire burned through a large crawl space under the roof, said Jeff Welz, director of North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue. Mr. Neglia’s three colleagues were blasted out of the apartment; one went tumbling down a flight of stairs, Mr. Welz said.  The three men battled their way back to the room, using a firehose to clear a path through the fire, and found Mr. Neglia lying unconscious without his air mask on. He was lifted out through a back window and taken to St. Mary Hospital in Hoboken where he was pronounced dead from burns and smoke and heat inhalation, Mr. Welz said.  He was the first firefighter to die in Union City since 1977. No one else was found in the building.  Mr. Neglia followed “the code of firemen” when he charged into the building because 911 calls reported there were people inside, said Brion McEldowney, chief of North Hudson Fire and Rescue. He added that “no one made any mistakes” in the rescue attempt. Friends remembered Mr. Neglia as a character who never missed a Rolling Stones concert and was notorious for telling his comrades to “smarten up.” He could often be seen in front of Engine Company 13 in North Bergen entertaining children with remote-controlled cars, and he was the center of attention at firefighter picnics where he would show off his remote-controlled helicopter. After buying a Harley-Davidson eight months ago, he helped start the New Jersey chapter of the American Firefighters Motorcycle Club.  Born in North Bergen and a 1979 graduate of North Bergen High School, Mr. Neglia worked as an emergency medical technician before becoming a firefighter. Three years ago, he moved to Lyndhurst.  Firefighters remembered Mr. Neglia as a hard worker who was quick to volunteer to search for survivors at ground zero after the Sept. 11 attacks. Charles Severino, the battalion chief, called Mr. Neglia “the most altruistic person I ever met,” and remembered how Mr. Neglia responded when given an unusual order to keep watch over the body of a woman killed in a fire in North Bergen a few years back.  “Vinnie stood in the room with her for more than an hour and made sure that even in death he treated that woman with the respect and dignity she deserved,” he said.  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B5 of the New York edition with the headline: A Firefighter Is Remembered for His Unselfish Nature. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Family and colleagues mourned New Jersey firefighter Vincent Neglia, who was killed while searching for residents during an apartment fire.