Call To Honor 1st Rockland Firefighter To Die In The Line Of Duty

PIERMONT, NY — An effort to honor Thomas Pomplin as the first firefighter line-of-duty death in Rockland County was announced Tuesday in Piermont.

The call for Pomplin to be honored is the culmination of work by Dan Goswick, Sr., ex-Chief of the Piermont Fire Department, based on research started by Rockland residents Brian Duddy and Jim Liner, according to Nyack News & Views.

Pomplin (known by family and friends as “Pomp”), was a member of the department in the 19th century. He died after fighting a massive conflagration at Storm's Cedar Tub and Pail, a converted match factory, on Nyack Brook. The factory caught fire July 29, 1854. Piermont was asked for help, and the firefighters pulled and pushed their engines more than three miles in just 50 minutes.

Among the responders was Pomplin, who died a week later "from the effects of overheating and exhaustion at the late fire in Nyack" according to the Rockland Journal. He was 28.

Senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick and Assemblyman Mike Lawler hosted a news conference with Goswick Tuesday morning.

Goswick has assembled a commemoration committee that includes Reichlin-Melnick, Lawler, County Legislator James Foley, Piermont Mayor Bruce Tucker and representatives of the Piermont Historical Society, the Piermont Library, the Nyack NAACP and St. Charles AME Church in Sparkill, according to Nyack Sketch Log.

You can donate to the department's Pomplin memorial building fund here.