Berkeley Township Remembers Its Fallen Firefighters

BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, NJ - Eugene Furey was only 28 when he rose answer to the call of duty in the early morning hours of Nov. 20, 1988. The Bayville Volunteer Fire Company member left his Beachwood home on Spruce Street and jumped into his Chevy Blazer.

Furey never made it to the fire.

The young husband and father was killed when he lost control of his vehicle on a rain-slicked Pinewald Road and crashed into a tree. Shortly after his death, the township named the road next to the Bayville firehouse Eugene Furey Boulevard.

Furey is the only member of the Berkeley's three fire companies who died in the line of duty. And fire officials have been working for years to find another way to honor him and their other brothers who have passed on.

A committee was formed, made up of members from all three fire companies - the Bayville Volunteer Fire Company, the Manitou Park Volunteer Fire Company and the Pinewald Pioneer Volunteer Fire Company.

The group has raised the money for the memorial over many years through donations, raffles and other events, and the sale of engraved pavers. The memorial will be dedicated at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at the park, said Patrick Piccoli, Treasurer of the Manitou Park Fire Company.

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The memorial - designed by Toms River architect Brian Hanlon - features a kneeling fireman on the left, to honor Furey, who was killed in the line of duty - and three marble slabs with the names of other deceased township fireman from all three fire companies, flagpoles and benches, Piccoli said.

Photo: Bayville Volunteer Fire Company