William Herman - Pearl River FD

[BFD1054 1,552]

Rockland County - The Pearl River Fire Department has announced the passing of William Herman. Mr. Herman was a 50-year-member of the Excelsior Engine Co. of Pearl River. He was also the 1st Fire Coordinator for Rockland County as well as a Fire Instructor at the Rockland County FTC.

Wake services will be held Thursday (11-03-05) & Friday (11-04-05) from 1500hrs - 1700hrs and 1900hrs - 2100hrs at the Rockland County Fire Training Center in Pomona, NY.

Herman, Rockland fire service legend, dies at 91

By SULAIMAN BEG

sbeg@thejournalnews.com

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: November 2, 2005)

PEARL RIVER — William J. Herman, who helped create the county's fire training center and served as Rockland's first volunteer fire coordinator, died at his Hunt Avenue home Monday night. He was 91.

"In the same way you say Kleenex and not tissue, you don't say fireman, you say Bill Herman," said William Harris Jr., an assistant chief of the Pearl River Fire Department, who was trained by Herman when he joined the Fire Department in 1968. "If it needed to be done, he was already in line doing it."

Thomas Herman of Pearl River said his father had been diagnosed with colon cancer in June.

He said his father had continued to attend meetings and teach fire safety to children at the Pearl River Library until a few weeks ago.

"He made fire training his personal mission in his life," said Thomas Herman. "He was a caring person who just enjoyed giving to others, and his way of giving was educating others about fire safety."

Herman, who grew up in Brooklyn in the 1920s and lived in Pearl River for 55 years, helped found the $2.3 million fire training center in Ramapo in 1973. He was the fire coordinator until he retired in 1977.

He had guided the county's 26 fire departments since 1952, when he was appointed part-time fire coordinator by the old Board of Supervisors, predecessor of the county Legislature.

The father of five was a more than 50-year member of Pearl River's Excelsior Fire Engine Company, the Rockland County Volunteer Fireman's Association and the New Jersey and New York Volunteer Fireman's Association. He also taught classes for Bergen County, N.J., firefighters for 12 years.

Before founding the fire training center, Herman — who started in 1947 and was the longest serving state fire instructor — had worked out of his car, driving to firehouses and training firefighters, said John Kryger, Rockland's deputy fire coordinator for press relations.

"He was a legend. He was a pioneer," said Kryger, who was trained by Herman in 1974. "There are thousands of active and retired firefighters in Rockland that Bill trained. Thousands."

As a teacher, Kryger said, Herman was the kind who pointed you in the right direction but never gave you the answer.

"He would make you work it out, so when you got to a fire, you acted automatically. You didn't have to think," he said. "It probably saved a lot of guys' lives."

During World War II, Herman was captain of the Camp Shanks army base's fire department in Orangeburg. Afterward, he was a safety/fire officer at Rockland Psychiatric Center. He then was the town of Ramapo's chief fire inspector.

In 1961, Herman and the county's fire advisory board set up a committee to study the feasibility of building a county fire-training center, a task that would last 12 years, county Fire Coordinator Gordon Wren Jr. said.

"He was very enthusiastic about firefighting in general," said Wren, who also was trained by Herman. "He was a thinker and a very bright guy."

Herman was followed by Donald Hastings, who was county fire coordinator until 1991. Wren has been in the position since then.

In addition to his son Thomas, Herman is survived by Catherine, his wife of 57 years — the couple would have celebrated their 58th anniversary yesterday — and four other children, Joan Herman of Friendswood, Texas; Ruth Williams of Walls, Miss.; Joe Herman of Egg Harbor, N.J.; and Patricia Reed of Fort Collins, Colo.

A wake will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. tomorrow and from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday at the fire-training center. A firemantic service will be held at 8 p.m. Friday. A funeral will be held at St. Margaret's Roman Catholic Church in Pearl River at 10 a.m. Saturday. Burial will follow at St. Anthony's Cemetery in Nanuet.

Memorial donations may be sent to the William J. Herman Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 111, Pearl River, NY 10965, or to United Hospice of Rockland, 11 Stokum Lane, New City, NY 10956.

Edited November 3, 2005 by EMTbravo