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Firefighter Killed in Queens Blaze 'Loved to Help People,' Priest Says

By Katie Honan | April 27, 2017 9:59am | Updated on April 27, 2017 3:12pm
 Bella Tolley, draped in a blanket with her father's face on it, holds his helmet outside his funeral at St. Martin of Pours Church in Bethpage, Long Island on April 27, 2017.
Bella Tolley, draped in a blanket with her father's face on it, holds his helmet outside his funeral at St. Martin of Pours Church in Bethpage, Long Island on April 27, 2017.
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DNAinfo/Katie Honan

LONG ISLAND — Family and friends remembered Firefighter William "Billy" Tolley at his funeral Thursday, recalling the passionate drummer, loving father and "buff" who was born to join the FDNY.

Tolley,  a 14-year veteran of the department, was battling a fire in Ridgewood on April 20 when he fell five stories from a bucket ladder, officials said.

He's the 1,147th FDNY member to die in the line of duty.

Thousands of firefighters from around the country lined the streets leading to St. Martin of Tours Church in Bethpage, where he had recently celebrated Easter mass with his family, to mourn the 42-year-old firefighter.

Tolley's wife, Marie, walked into the church with their daughter, Bella, who was draped in a blanket with her father's face on it. 

The young girl will receive her First Holy Communion at the same church on Saturday, which her father was preparing for in the moments before he went to fight the fire.

Father Patrick Woods spoke about Tolley and his many passions, sharing a phrase his family and friends said often: "That's just Billy being Billy."

He spoke to Bella, reminding her that she now has her father to always watch over her.

"Bella, your daddy loved to help people, that's what firemen do," he said. "They help people, and your daddy was a really good man at helping people."

Tolley — who was well known as a drummer in his influential metal band, Internal Bleeding — lived his life completely and full of passion, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. 

"Let's take stock and remember the rich life, a full life, a life full of feeling and life and giving to others," the mayor said. "A life lived as we all should live. That was Billy's life." 

Tolley wanted to be a firefighter from as young as 5 years old, running around the house with a plastic helmet and oxygen tank, his brother Bob said.

As a volunteer firefighter in Hicksville, Long Island, Tolley rushed down to Ground Zero to help after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Two years later, he received the call to join the FDNY.

"Up until that point, it was the greatest day in his life, to get that call," Bob Tolley said.

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Firefighter Tolley's wife, Marie, and daughter, Isabella — who wore her father's hat and clutched a blanket with his face on it — await the lowering of his casket before his funeral at St. Martin of Pours Church in Bethpage. (DNAinfo/Katie Honan)

Firefighter Jarret Kotarski said Tolley's passion for gadgets extended into the firehouse, and was a "buff" about firefighting — visiting trade shows with a love of flashy lights and loud sirens. And although he was an accomplished drummer, traveling the world with his band, he rarely bragged about it.

He'd play a show in Europe and be back at the firehouse like it was nothing, Korarski said.

Korarski recalled seeing a man in the gym wearing an Internal Bleeding T-shirt, and telling him he worked with the drummer.

"Bill Tolley, right on," the man told him, pumping one first in the air. "Internal Bleeding is the truth."

Yet despite his toughness fighting fires and speed on the double bass pedal of his drum kit, his heart was with his daughter, Bella. 

Kotarski said he and his fellow firefighters would continue to look after her -- letting her know she now has "40 overprotective and overbearing dads." 

"Billy, we got you," he said. "We will take care of her for you."

The FDNY is still investigating how Tolley fell from the bucket ladder. The fire that sent him to the apartment building on Putnam Avenue was sparked by unattended incense, investigators found.