NMFD Honors First Fallen Firefighter

The New Milford Fire Department marked the 30th Anniversary of the January 1983 fire at Borough Hall that took the life of 22-year old William Entwistle.

Entwistle, the first firefighter to lose his life in the line of duty, was remembered at a ceremony that took place Thursday evening at the monument on the front lawn of Borough Hall.

Firefighter Bill Drew, who remembered seeing Entwistle climbing the stairs to the attic of Borough Hall as he was climbing down because his air pack was nearing empty, said, "It's not the years in his life, but the life in his years that we remember tonight."

The fire, caused by a short circuit in the attic storage of Borough Hall, took the efforts of three fire departments to extinguish--New Milford, River Edge and Oradell.

"When Bill ran into that fire he answered his final alarm," Drew said.