FDNY FF WILLIAM MCNALLY L 3 LODD 5/5/1903

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FDNY Fire Service Line of Duty Deaths​

May 5, 1903 - LODD
Fireman William McNally, 23
Ladder 3
FDNY. East Village - Manhattan, New York






Ladder 3 responded to a two-alarm fire at 257 First Avenue and found flames throughout the four-story building. After a couple of rescues were made, firemen thought everyone was out of the building. Shortly after a man was spotted in a window on the top floor. Fireman McNally called to other firemen to get a ladder. McNally had climbed the ladder, and just as he reached the top, he saw the man disappear back into the room. Flames had then exploded out of the top of the window. McNally tucked his head down and dove through the window. McNally had returned to the window and was about to climb back out on the ladder when another blast of flame shot through the window. McNally fell back into the room. Fireman McEvoy of Ladder 3 had climbed up behind McNally. When McEvoy got to the top of the ladder he went in for McNally. He returned seconds later with McNally and carried him down the ladder. McNally was unconscious and badly burned when he brought him down. McNally was taken to Bellevue Hospital. He regained consciousness in the hospital and suffer terribly before dying.


RIP. Never forget.

 

[mack]

Ladder 3 responded to a two-alarm fire at 257 First Avenue and found flames throughout the four-story building. The fire had started in the basement and spread through the dumb waiter. Engine 16 had rescued a couple of men who were trapped on the third floor without much difficulty. The firemen went to work thinking everybody was out of the building. Soon the crowd spotted a man on the top floor front window. Fireman William McNally of Ladder 3, the first to see him, called to other members of the company to get a ladder. As the ladder was being raised, McNally was already climbing it. Just as he got to the top of the ladder he saw the man disappear back into the room and flames explode out of the top of window. McNally tucked his head down and dove through the window below the flames. In a moment McNally returned to the window with the man and was about to climb back on the ladder when another blast of flame erupted from the window. McNally fell back into the room. Fireman McEvoy of Ladder 3 had climbed up the ladder behind McNally and when he reached the top, he went in for McNally. He returned seconds later with his friend and carried him down the ladder. McNally was unconscious when brought down, severely burned and taken to Bellevue Hospital. He regained consciousness in the hospital and suffered terribly before dying on May 5. McNally was twenty-three years old and lived at 425 East 69th Street and was not married. His last words were “Good-bye all, Good-bye Mother” who was at his bedside when he died. (From "The Last Alarm" by Boucher, Urbanowicz & Melahn. 200

 

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FF McNally was also a US Navy war veteran.