Casey Skudin, who would turn 46 on Sunday, was on a family holiday on Friday to celebrate his birthday and Father’s Day when a 2,000-pound tree fell on the vehicle while he was driving his wife, Angela, and the sons of Ben, 19 and CJ.  , 10, on Biltmore Estate Street in Asheville. 
Skudin was killed instantly, Angela Skudin told Newsday on Saturday.  The four were taken to Mission Hospital in Asheville, a Biltmore Estate spokesman said.  The two sons were both injured, one seriously and Angela Skudin suffered scratches, he said online. 
“I knew my husband was gone,” said Angela Skudin.  “So I grabbed his hand and told him he was the best.  “He was the best dad.”  
Skudin was a 16-year-old FDNY veteran mounted on Ladder 137 in the Rockaways, a department spokesman said.  He had been awarded twice for bravery.  One of those praises came after Skudin helped rescue a surfer caught in extremely strong currents and icy water in November 2009. 
“He was a great guy, a great firefighter,” said Joseph Durkin, also an FDNY firefighter, as he shed tears outside the fire station where he worked with Scudin. 
“He loved his job, I loved this fireplace,” Durkin said.  “He was a guy you could count on.” 
Angela Skudin said the trip to North Carolina was the family’s first vacation after the coronavirus pandemic.  Casey Skudin mapped an outdoor trail full of hiking and rafting in the white waters.  The family had planned to go to an indie rock concert on Saturday, he said. 
“It was full of life,” said Casey Skudin’s cousin Cliff Skudin, also from Long Beach.  “He liked to take his children on trips and hikes.  He was a super dad.  “It simply came to our notice then.  
A spokeswoman for Biltmore Estate, an Asheville tourist attraction that includes a historic mansion, said strong winds triggered by a “weather event” were responsible for the fallen tree and that an investigation was under way.  
“This is a catastrophic tragedy and we are deeply saddened by this news,” Biltmore said in a statement.  “Our heartfelt thoughts are with the family and their loved ones and we are offering help right now.” 
Skudin’s son Ben, a rising young man at Cornell University, suffered a black eye.  CJ remained in the hospital overnight due to a partial collapse of his lung and complex fractures to his spine and sternum, according to Angela Skudin.  She called the survival of her sons from the ordeal a “literal miracle”.  
Cliff Skudin said his cousin, a fellow surfer, was a rock in his community, not only as a firefighter but also as a Town of Hempstead lifeguard.  Skudin is also a staple of the Long Beach community: Cliff Skudin is the co-owner of the well-known Skudin Surf surfing school and Angela Skudin is the owner of The Codfish Cowboy, a thrift store.  
“Long Beach is our family, FDNY brothers and sisters are our family, Hebsted City is our family,” said Cliff Scudin.  “It’s the only thing that can comfort us.  “So many people loved him and he will be there for Angela and the children.”  
The family was still making arrangements for the memorial service on Sunday, Cliff Skudin said, but has already decided to honor Skudin at 9 a.m. on June 26 with a “paddle-out” outside Lido Beach.  The paddle-out is a floating monument consisting of surfers, oars, kayaks and others that go out into the water to offer words of remembrance for the deceased.  
Casey Skudin tricked in the day-to-day chores and supported his wife in her interior design business while battling Lyme disease, which kept her bedridden for 18 months, she said.  She finally got to her feet in time for their family vacation.  
The two – neighbors who lived opposite each other at the time at Point Lookout – met 20 years ago, Skudin said.  Ben was an infant when his mother married Skudin and on his 18th birthday, Skudin legally adopted him.  
“The greatest gift he ever gave me was that he adopted our eldest son Ben and made us a complete family,” said Angela Skudin.  
“I do not regret it at all,” he said.  “If I had known it ended that way, I would have done it all over again, because even if I had that [connection] with someone for a moment – as some people do not understand this in a lifetime, and I have had it for 20 years “.  
With Debbie Egan-Chin and Matthew Chayes

By Michael O’Keeffe and Brinley Hineman