William was a 42-year-old Firefighter from New York, New York.

Tolley grew up in Lindenhurst, New York and graduated from Lindenhurst High School. A 14-year-vetearn of the FDNY, Tolley was stationed at Engine 286/Ladder 135 in Ridgewood, NY. William was married to his wife Marie. They have an 8-year-old daughter, Isabella, together. In 1991, Tolley helped found the death metal band Internal Bleeding. As of April of 2017, the band had over 53,000 followers on Facebook. Tolly played drums for Internal Bleeding

In the early morning hours of April 20th, Tolley was battling a fire on Putnam Avenue in Ridgewood when he fell 5 stories.

He was in a ladder bucket while attempting to extinguish the flames when he fell.

Tolley was transported to He is the 1147th member of the FDNY to die in the line of duty.

^[1] An outpouring of condolences have been circulating on Social media, ranging from the Mayor of New York City Bill de Blasio to various band on the death metal scene.