July 4, 1974, was a day that most families were spending together enjoying the holiday. Several York Firefighters were enjoying each others company at a cookout at one of the member’s houses. The social aspect of the volunteer fire service has always been held in high regard by the men and women of York Village Fire. Fraternity is very important to morale and many members consider themselves more like family than co-workers or fellow volunteers. Late in the evening that day a thunderstorm passed through York. Pouring rain made the streets slick. The fire whistle atop the fire station blew alerting the men to a report of a fire on Bayview Avenue. The men jumped in Lt. Fuller’s vehicle and headed towards the fire. While responding up Route 103, the vehicle lost control and crashed killing Lt. Fuller and injuring the other firefighters in the vehicle. Among the injured were Charles Balentine, Bruce Woodward, and William Goslin.
This year is the 40th anniversary of this tragedy for the Fuller family and the York Village Fire Department. We wanted to take a moment to recognize this event in our history which happened this month so long ago in the hopes that it will never be forgotten and that our firefighters, as well as all firefighters remember to operate with safety in mind at all times. This is the only Line of Duty Death in the York Village Fire Department’s 98 year history. We are hoping that it is the last one we ever go through. We wish to Thank the Fuller family for being so generous and sharing their newspaper clippings of their relative so that we could share them with you all, our followers.
