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It has been more than two months since the flames at the Sofa Super Store went out, but the memory of the nine firemen who died in the blaze have stayed with store owner Herb Goldstein ever since.
"I went from having a perfect life that couldn't have been better to total misery now," he said Tuesday. "I can't relax. I can't eat. I can't sleep. I can't enjoy my grandkids."
Beyond his own nightmares, Goldstein realizes the friends and family of the dead firemen have had to live the last 11 weeks in a state much worse.
"I didn't lose any loved ones," said Goldstein, 65. "I can't imagine what the families of the firefighters are going through."
In his first in-depth interview since the June 18 blaze, Goldstein agreed to talk with the press to clear up what he said were misconceptions in the wake of the nation's largest loss of firefighters since the 9/11 terror attacks.
He came forward now, he said, to get his side of the story out, though he remains...