At night, Bill Tolley was the drummer of Long Island death metal masters Internal Bleeding, which he helped co-found in 1991. During the day, William Tolley was a fourteen year veteran of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), a member of New York's bravest. Tragically, Tolley died earlier today while answering the call of a two-alarm blaze in the Ridgewood section of Queens, New York.
Tolley, who was one of 100 firefighters on the scene, tragically fell off the roof of the building shortly after the fire had been brought under control. The fireman was entering a bucket of a firetruck ladder, and according to reports from CBS 2, the basket shook and the firefighter fell to his death. He was rushed to Wyckoff Heights Hospital, but they were not able to save him.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the tragic news on his Facebook page:
Internal Bleeding reposted the tribute and added some words of their own:
Our drummer, the heartbeat of the band, William Tolley died today. There are ZERO WORDS to describe the loss. He was a good, decent and honorable man who loved his friends, his family and the people he served. There will never be another like him. There are no words to describe the utter sadness and despair we feel right now. We love you Bill.
Internal Bleeding have put out five full-lengths since 1991, with their most recent release, Imperium came out on Unique Leader Records. We premiered the music video for the lead single "Castigo Corpus Meum" here on Metal Injection.
Our deepest condolences to the band and Bill's family and friends.
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