Community mourns loss of Bill Belinson
Town historian served 59 years as active Eggertsville firefighter
by DAVID F. SHERMAN Managing Editor

William Belinson was chief of the Eggertsville Hose Company for 17 years.

Using ceremonial shovels which were used to break ground for the three fire halls utilized by the Eggertsville Hose Company during its 99-year history, family members and fellow firefighters each cast a scoop of dirt on the grave of William M. Belinson Monday afternoon as he was laid to rest at Pine Lawn Cemetery, Cheektowaga.

If the fire service had royalty, "Billy" surely would have been its king.

Mr. Belinson, 82, died Saturday, Aug. 18, 2007 in Buffalo General Hospital after experiencing chest pains a few hours earlier.

He was an active firefighter with Eggertsville for 59 years, serving as chief for a remarkable 17 years.

Mr. Belinson was named Amherst town historian in 1994, succeeding Andrea Shaw. He was also one of the vice chairmen of the town's 175th anniversary celebration in 1993.

His father, Jacob, was instrumental in the early development of the Eggertsville area. Many of the homes and roads in the Grover Cleveland Highway corridor were built by his firm.

Ira Striejewske accepts the chief's helmet from William Belinson, his predecessor, in 1977.

Mr. Belinson carried on the family trade as a carpenter, real estate broker and head of the construction firm. A graduate of Amherst High School, he attended Empire State College.

He was a U.S. Navy veteran who served in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters during World War II and earned four bronze stars. Recalled to active duty during the Korean War, he served an additional two years overseas.

Mr. Belinson's father, Jack, served in the U.S. Navy during World War I. His older son, Robert, was a Vietnam veteran.

Mr. Belinson was a founding member of AMVETS Post 49 in Amherst as well as a national charter member of the organization.

"He didn't have to be 6 feet tall for everyone to look up to him," said Rabbi A. Charles Shalman during services held earlier Monday at Temple Shaarey Zedek. "His family showed strength and resilience, and embraced life."

Eight days before his death, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Erie County Volunteer Firemen's Association.

Belinson's boots and coat were on solemn display Monday at the Eggertsville fire hall. The photo at left was taken four months ago at what is believed to have been his last fire. Photo by Josh Penfold. Courtesy Eggertsville Hose Company

Mr. Belinson was awarded the prestigious Fireman of the Year award in 1958 from the Firemen's Association of the State of New York for rescuing two persons from two separate house fires.

On Sept. 3, 1957, fire broke out in an upper apartment at 73 Brant Road in the Princeton Court apartments. The resident was still asleep in her bedroom when two Amherst police officers and Mr. Belinson arrived.

After Patrolmen Walter Centner and Clarence Hallen broke down the door, they were hit by a wall of heat and dense smoke pouring from the living room. Centner and Mr. Belinson entered and found the woman unconscious in the bedroom.

They carried her out of the building to safety as other firefighters arrived to control the blaze.

Mr. Belinson's second historic rescue effort took place less than three months later.

On Nov. 25, 1957, Mr. Belinson pulled a 9-year-old boy from the second-floor balcony of his burning home at 73 Stevenson Blvd.

Mr. Belinson was in the neighborhood and spotted the fire before it had been reported by anyone else, according to The Amherst Bee.

When he approached the house, a neighbor told him there was a boy trapped on the back porch and offered the use of a long ladder in her garage.

"Flames from a burning bedroom were all around the youngster as Belinson snatched him to safety and carried him to the ground," The Bee reported.

True to form, Mr. Belinson credited the woman living next door for her help in the rescue.

"Billy, myself and the fire service had some very good and very bad moments," said Ira Striejewske, who succeeded Mr. Belinson as chief in 1977. "The partnership we had over the years can never be replaced. What he taught me about construction and firefighting never came out of a book. It was all 'hands-on' experience."

Tragically, both of Mr. Belinson's sons died in separate accidents. David A. Belinson, 19, died on April 14, 1973 as the result of an auto accident near Panhandle State College in Oklahoma, where he was a student.

Robert L. Belinson, 26, an Amherst Engineering Department employee, died on Aug. 1, 1975. He and another man were working inside a sewer lift station on Donna Lea Boulevard and were overcome by toxic fumes.

A neighbor and friend, Gabe Ferber, saidduringMonday'sserv that Mr. Belinson recognized he was part of a continuum and proud of his heritage.

"His faith served him through the wounds that never truly healed," he said.

Although the number of fire company alarms to which he responded fell dramatically in the last few years, Mr. Belinson continued to report to the fire station on Eggert Road for calls and offered any assistance he could.

It was customary to see him prowling the fire ground, not looking for a task to perform, but quietly looking out for the safety of the men and women on the job. As a retired builder, he knew more about construction's hidden dangers than most.

Mr. Belinson responded to perhaps his last working fire on April 19 when a home on Morton Drive was extensively damaged on one of the first warm spring days of the year. His pacing seemed endless as he traversed the driveway leading to the detached garage, then back to the sidewalk for critical views of the exterior walls of the home itself.

Like a chess master, he was always thinking; always looking ahead. Experience was his checkmate move.

"My dad built this house," he said.

Surviving are his wife of 59 years, the former Helen Kassirer; a daughter-in-law, Susan; two grandchildren and one great-grandchild.