HENDERSON FAMILY

A PFD Captain and Two Deputy Chiefs

William Henderson Sr.

William Henderson Jr.

Joseph Henderson

The three Henderson's have served the Paterson Fire Department for 51 years from 1971 to 2022. Collectively that amounts to 85 years of service. Bill Sr, after serving in the National Guard was the first to become a firefighter and during his 29-year career rose to the rank of Captain. Bill Jr. followed in his dad's footsteps and became a firefighter in 1991and during a 28-year career rose to the rank of Deputy Chief and Tour Commander. Two years later son/brother Joe was appointed to PFD and during his 28-year career also rose to the rank of a Deputy Chief

William Henderson Sr. -
Served as Specialist 4/c in Army National Guard May 1963 thru May 1969 -
Appointed PFD August 1971 (under EEA Program) -
Served Engine Company 12 -
In 1972 transferred to Engine Company 5 -
Transferred to Squad 1 and in 1979 To Engine Company 1-
Promoted to Captain in 1989
Served at Engine Company 5
Transferred to Ladder 2 -
Retired June 2000

Engine 12 at 36 Circle Avenue Firehouse

Captain William Henderson - Engine 5 Captain

Engine 5 Thibault Telesquirt

Ladder 2 Captain

Captain Bill Henderson Sr. Ladder Captains Breast Badge

Ladder 2 - E-One Hurricane

Bill Henderson Sr. Ladder 2 Captain's Helmet and Badge

October 1, 1976: 1:30 AM 5th floor, 2nd alarm fire at Passaic County Community College at Paterson & Van Houten Streets

Herald News

Oral history from Bill Henderson - The fire was in the chem lab, and we were flooding the area with water but the fire was on top of the water so if we shut the line down the water and fire kept coming towards us, and at that time our Scott’s had a flexible hose going to the masks. I had a kink in my mask so I wasn’t getting any air I lifted the mask up to un-kink the hose and the next thing I knew, was waking up in St Joes, with no idea how I got there.

on the left is Ray Kozlowski, in the back is Rich Hoffman Sr. On the right is Tim Donavon

1979 Valor Award Recipients - Squad 1

Tour 4 - Greg Chistensen, Bill Henderson, Captain Larry Mazza and James O'Neill

1993 Valor Award

Valor Award - 2000 Ball Book

Bill Henderson Sr. Ladder 2 Captain

Captain Bill Henderson Sr - Ladder 2

FF Bill Henderson Sr. at right (with Captain) on coat

Madison Avenue Firehouse - Tim Donovan, Bruce Selowentchic, Joe Parkin Sr., Bill Henderson Sr, Joe Daley, DC Joe Rocca, Jim Tasca, Jim Kehoe, George Stanton, Bill Taylor ( kneeling), John Harris, John Martin.

Ladder 2 - Top, L-R: Engine 4 Robert Stemmler, Tyrone Johnson, Carlos Pagan, "Driver" Ed McGrady. Bottom, L-R: Ladder 2 Andrew Ackerman, Captain William Henderson Sr., Thomas Hogan.

Bill Henderson Sr. with "Smokey" and Rocco Aliotta and Tommy Hogan

Captain Bill Henderson Sr. Ladder 2

1997 - Northside Temple Street Firehouse: Battalion Chief Michael Fleming, "Chief" and Company members: Tour 4, Battalion 3, Engine 4 and Ladder 2.

Captain A Maldonado, R Stemmler, C Pagan, G Calamita, Captain W Henderson Sr., BC M. P. Fleming Sr., A. Ackerman, W. Taylor, R. Aliotta, at Northside with Smokey

1999 Spartan Innovation 105' rear mounted aerial of Ladder 2 (posed at Madison Avenue)- Chief officers in front (L-R): DiGuglielmo, Pasquariello, Postorino, McLaughlin and Fleming - Photo taken at the 2000 retirement of Captain William Henderson Sr. (in blue shirt at left of B/C Fleming with his two sons Joe and Bill Jr. on each side)

Pat and Bill Henderson Sr. duked out for the FMBA Ball

Bill Henderson Sr. at one of the Balls

William Henderson Jr. -
Appointed May 7, 1991 - served at the following companies:
Engine 1 - Tour 4
Engine 6 - Tour 4
Rescue 1 - Tour 4
Ladder 1 - Tour 4
Promoted to Captain March 24, 2003 -
Covering Captain on Tour 2 for a year
Then assigned to Engine 1 Tour 4
Promoted to Battalion Chief September 25, 2009 -
Battalion 2 Tour 2
Promoted to Deputy Chief November 3, 2014 -
Tour Commander of Tour 1 for a year -
Tour 4 for 6 months
Tour 3 for 4 1/2 years until retirement
Retired June 1, 2019 -

Firefighter 1991 Ball Book

Firefighter 1996 Ball Book

E-One Pumper

Engine 1 RD Murray Pumper

E6 at Southside - E-One pumper

2003 Ball Book

Engine 1 Pierce Saber Pumper

2011 Ball Book

BC Bill Henderson Jr.

Deputy Chief William Henderson Jr.

Bill Jr.'s DC Badge

Deputy Chief Bill Henderson Jr - Tour Commander & Gig at McBride Avenue Headquarters

Captain and Deputy Chief Helmets of William Henderson Jr.

1993 Valor Award

1993 Ball article

1994 Valor Award

2008 Valor Award

From 2010 Ball Book

E6 and Dalmation - Circa 1991: "Nozzle" at Southside Firehouse and men of E6 and R2. L-R B/C Robert Meyers, F/F's Paul DiFalco, Charles Onorato, William Henderson, Captain Bruce Selowentich, F/F's Robert Poloniak and Andrew Ackerman circa post 1991. Nozzle passed in 1993.

Engine 1 Tour 4 ~1998 at Madison Avenue. L-R: FF Bob Allen, Captain Kevin Mosca, FF Bill Henderson Jr., FF San Joyner, FF Joe Bradley

March 2003 - Captain promotions: L-R: FF Joseph Henderson, retired captain William Henderson, and new captains William Henderson, William Mee, Robert Poloniak, Michael D'Arco, Charles Onorato, William Taylor. To the far right is FF Steve D'Arco.

L-R is FF Joe Henderson, then Retired Captain Bill Henderson Sr, New Captain Bill Henderson Jr. is 3rd from left

Fire Scenes

FF Scott Rogow, FF Bill Henderson FF Pedro Garced after picking up at a fire scene in Eng 6 around 1995

Engine 1 Captain Bill Henderson Jr and Joe Bradley

Battalion Chief William Henderson Jr circa 2011-2012

DC Bill Henderson Jr.

DC Henderson with L3 FF Billy Pierce at Van Houten Street Fire - Both FF retired together and this was the last shift they worked

Deputy Chief William Henderson Jr.

Captain AJ Woods and Dc Bill Henderson Jr.

House explosion - October 4, 2016 Goshen Street

Tour Commander Bill Henderson Jr.

Other Photos

At McBride Avenue Firehouse on day Brian McDermott became Chief of Department

Captain Colclough, DC Bill Henderson Jr & Charles Gander March 2019

2016 Ceremony - Rear, FF Scott Wilson, FF Hook, FF Salmon, FF Eickhorst, FF Mann, FF John Jones Front, Captain M Walker, Chief Mcdermott, BC Rathbone, DC Bill Henderson, and Captain Woods - Congressman Pascrell at right

FF Crichlow, FF Montes, FF Hunter, Captain M. Caposella, BC Rathbone and DC Bill Henderson Jr

DCs Frank Calamita, Tour 2. Pablo Del Valle, Tour 1, William Henderson Jr, Tour 3 and Ryan P Murray, Communications.

Joseph T. Henderson -
Appointed June 1, 1993 -
  Engine 6 Tour 2 - 8/1/93 -
  Engine 5 Tour 2 June 1, 1994 -
Engine 5 Tour 4 April 1, 2006 -
  Ladder 3 Tour 4 February 2005 -
Captain November 1, 2011 -
  Assigned to Ladder 1 Tour 2 April 1, 2012 -
Battalion Chief June 1, 2019 - Battalion 2 Tour 2
Deputy Chief June 30, 2021 - Served as Car 2 - Chief of Operations -
Retired March 1, 2022 -

Firefighter

Joe Henderson FF Badge

1996 Ball Book

Engine Company 5 1996 - Riverside Firehouse

Ladder 3 E-One Tillered - Danzo photo

Captain Joe Henderson

L1 - E-One mid-mount aerial

Joe Henderson Ladder Captains Breast Badge

BC Breast Badge Joe Henderson

DC Breast Badge Joe Henderson

Deputy Chief Joe Henderson

DC Helmet of Joe Henderson

2007 Valor Award

NJ State FMBA 2013 Bronze Medal Valor Award

The 1993 Recruiting Class of Joe Henderson - softball team -
Trophy is for their victory over PPD recruits.

L-R: D Alexander, W Pierce, C Pagan, S Higgins, J Bradley, D Langevin, B Rathbone, S Parkin, Recruit Trainer, PS Director Dolan. At bottom is Joe Henderson, Glen Calamita, J Reyes, V Frierson, H. Garced

Riverside Engine 5 Tour 4 company picture . FF J Henderson, FF J Botero, FF Pablo Camacho, FF John Alexander, the great Captain Vito Mangani, Sr. This crew on November 29, 1998 had 7 working fires during that 24-hour shift. Engine 5 was 1st due for 5 of them.

Circa 2000 group Tour 2 in front of Engine 5 photo: Standing L-R: Mike Marini, Don Langevin, Alton Dickson, Captain Bruce Vandervoort, Captain Joe Saia. Bottom row kneeling L-R: Joe Henderson, Vic Frierson, Captain John Quant, Sean Burns. Deputy Chief Norman Morley

Engine Company 5 - FF Mike Marini, FF Victor Frierson, FF Don Langevin, FF Joe Henderson, Capt. Bruce Vandervort

Ladder 1 James Roy, Ryan Graf, Captain Joe Henderson, Marvin Cruz, Jerry Boucicaut, Dave VanTassel, and Rafael Chavez

2015 - Venting a roof - Getty Ave Fire

2020 at Riverside Firehouse kitchen during COVID BC Joe Henderson at right

Battalion Chief Joe Henderson at auto fire June 11, 2021

Battalion Chief Joe Henderson

2021 Lafayette Street Fire - DC Frank Calamita Captain John Mauro & BC Joe Henderson

June 30, 2021: Promotional Ceremony - Left to right: Provisional DC Joseph Henderson, BC Sal Brigati, BC John Mauro, Captain Gustavo Guitierrez, Captain Kyle Hughes, Captain Raphael Chavez

DC Joe Henderson with gig at McBride Avenue Firehouse

DC Joe Henderson with unmarked new gig at McBride Avenue Firehouse

Chief of Department Brian McDermott, DC Joe Henderson, Captain Michael Walker at McBride Avenue Firehouse at retirement 2021

Chief Brian McDermott and DC Joe Henderson

DC Joe Henderson holding retirement shadow box with Engine 7 in background

DC Joe Henderson on last day at Madison Avenue by Ladder 1

HENDERSON FAMILY

June 21, 1993: New appointments including FF Joseph Henderson Jr (son of retired Captain William Henderson Sr and brother of FF William Henderson) and David Alexander (son of Captain John Alexander and brother of FF John Alexander).