‘Daddy is too young to die
Daughter’s salute for tragic firefighter
IN A HEARTBREAKING tribute to her fallen firefighter dad, William Tolley’s 8-year-old daughter wore her father’s uniform cap to his funeral Thursday.
Bella Tolley was among hundreds of firefighters and family members who squeezed into a Long Island church to bid a final farewell to the 14-year FDNY veteran.
In addition to wearing her dad’s cap, Bella clutched a blanket emblazoned with a massive picture of him. A sea of firefighters — some traveling from as far as Chicago and Detroit — stood at attention outside the church.
The Rev. Patrick Woods, of the St. Martin of Tours Church in Bethpage, described the first words Bella uttered upon learning that her 42-year-old dad had died.
“Daddy is too young to die,” Bella told her mother, Marie.
“I have no Daddy,” the young girl added moments later as the unfathomable news set in, Woods recalled.
Tolley was killed April 20 while battling an apartment fire in Ridgewood, Queens.
The blaze was mostly extinguished when the married father plunged five stories from the building’s roof to his death from a tower ladder bucket.
Investigators were still probing the cause of the fatal mishap.
Tolley, a Bethpage native and member of Ladder 135/Engine 286 in Queens, was the 1,172nd member of the FDNY to die in the line of duty.
“Even though his life was cut short . . . in those 42 years he did a lot of living,” Woods said. “He lived a rich life and touched many, many lives. So, in spite of our grief, as hard as it is to do, we say thank you for the 42 years of Billy.”
Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said Tolley had a “true passion for being a firefighter.” “This job was a part of him,” Nigro added.
Tolley was known as a cleancut, by-the-book firefighter who was always eager to take the lead into a burning building.
But he also loved to rock out in his spare time. The unassuming Tolley moonlighted as a drummer for the heavy metal band Internal Bleeding.
Mayor de Blasio noted Tolley’s diverse passions — his family, his work and “of course, his metal band.”
“A friend said he was a hard-
core rocker and also a firefighter with a baby seat in the back of his minivan,” de Blasio told the mourners. “Talk about range.”
Tolley’s coffin — draped in an FDNY flag — arrived at the church in a firetruck that read: “In Loving Memory, William N. Tolley.”
Scores of firefighters and city officials stood solemnly as the sounds of bagpipes and slow beats of drums cut the morning silence.
In his eulogy, Tolley’s brother Bobby said his younger sibling caught the firefighter bug early.
“He was born to be a firefighter,” Bobby said. “From 5 years old, at least as far back as I can remember, he had the little plastic mask and the little plastic oxygen tank running around the house.”
Firefighter Jarrett Kotarski, of Ladder 135, spoke about Tolley’s fondness for searching out the most obscure gadgets, such as deafening Brazilian sirens and seizure-inducing strobe lights.
Kotarski also described how Tolley’s side career as a musician awed his fellow firefighters.
“He played worldwide venues in front of thousands of people and he never said anything to anybody,” Kotarski said. “He’d play Moscow on a Wednesday . . . and then work overtime on Thursday.”
Kotarski later broke down as he spoke directly to Tolley’s family.
“Bella’s our little girl now, and we’re going to take care of her for you,” he said, choking back sobs. Then he addressed Bella. “You got lucky because now you’re going to have 40 overbearing dads watching over you all the time,” he said.
Following the service, de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, embraced Tolley’s widow and daughter outside the church.
“Thank you,” Marie Tolley whispered.
With a sea of firefighters looking on, Nigro walked over and handed Bella her father’s official helmet.
Five helicopters buzzed over the church after a group of firefighters loaded Tolley’s casket into the FDNY truck.
The bagpipers started playing again as the truck pulled away — trailed by a group of vehicles carrying Tolley’s family members.
Earlier, de Blasio finished off his eulogy with a direct — and deeply personal — message to Tolley’s little girl.
“I lost my dad when I was young,” de Blasio said, noting that his father also wore a uniform as an Army soldier.
“Sometimes, of course, you’ll wish you knew him better. You’ll wish you had more time. But you’ll never have to wonder about his character — what he believed in, how he used his life on this Earth.”