April 20--NEW YORK-- New York City firefighter William Tolley died after plummeting five stories from an apartment building while fighting a fire in Queens on Thursday.
The New York Daily News is reporting that Tolley, a 14-year veteran of the FDNY, was pronounced dead shortly after he fell from the building on Putnam Ave. near Wyckoff Ave. in Ridgewood just after 2:20 p.m., according to the FDNY.
"It was a routine operation, and somehow he fell from the roof,” Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said at a grim hospital news conference. "It is a terrible tragedy for a department that has known more than its share of tragedy."
Tolley, 42, leaves behind a wife, Marie, and their 8-year-old daughter, Bella. His death is under investigation by the FDNY.
Mayor Bill de Blasio appeared visibly shaken when he arrived at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, according to the Daily News. De Blasio later said he and Nigro met with Tolley's family at the hospital.
"Everyone is in a state of shock, grief," the mayor said.
Tolley was brought to the medical center in cardiac arrest and pronounced dead a short time later, sources told the Daily News. He was apparently moving from an FDNY bucket to the roof of the building when he took a misstep and fell, according to witnesses.
"It sounded like an explosion when he fell," witness Angie Cordero, 43, who lives across the street, told the Daily News. "People from above could see the blood from his head. A worker nearby got sick when he saw it."
Over 100 firefighters responded to the fire, which started on the second floor in the 25-apartment building, the FDNY said. Three civilians suffered minor injuries and were taken to Wyckoff Medical Center, according to the Daily News. The blaze was brought under control by 3 p.m.
The line-of-duty death came mere hours after the FDNY held a ceremony honoring Deputy Chief Michael Fahy, who was the last city firefighter to die on the job. Fahy was killed Sept. 27 in an explosion at a marijuana grow house in the Bronx and had his name added to the list of fallen firefighters on the department’s Memorial Wall earlier in the day.
