Ladder placement may have led to FDNY firefighter William Tolley’s death

The ladder may have either gotten caught against the facade, then dislodged, or scraped against the building on Putnam Ave. in Ridgewood right before the 42-year-old firefighter fell.

“This is a tragedy,” said the source.

It is one of several theories a special team of FDNY Safety Command specialists and Fire Marshals will be reviewing as they investigate Tolley’s death.

It may be six weeks before it’s officially known how Tolley died, sources said.

The comprehensive investigation will include interviews, review of radio transmissions, and audio and video recordings, as well as an inspection of the ladder truck and equipment. The investigation will determine if human or mechanical error caused Tolley’s death, officials said.

“I have a thousand questions,” Tolley’s step-father Frank DeCillis, 70, told the Daily News on Friday.

Tolley was stepping from the tower ladder’s bucket onto the roof when the ladder suddenly swayed, causing the 14-year veteran to fall.

“It looks like it shifted a bit,” said one retired firefighter who now works for NY Fire Consultants, which teaches fire safety preparedness classes to building managers. “It happens quite a lot, actually. But at that particular second there was a misstep and he lost his balance.”

The city Medical Examiner ruled Tolley’s death an accident Friday.

The second-floor fire was sparked by burning incense, city Fire Marshals determined.

“Compounding the tragic loss of Firefighter Tolley’s life is that the fire he responded to and fought bravely could have been prevented,” Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.

The heavy metal drummer was Ladder Company 135’s roof/vent man, whose job was to go up on the roof, look for victims and punch holes in the roof to vent the fire if needed, experts said.

He would have been repeatedly drilled how to step in and out of the tower ladder’s bucket, experts said.

“Everyone is trained to the utmost and trained in the operation of the equipment,” the retired firefighters said. “He did exactly what he was trained to do on the roof. This could have happened to any one us us.”

Firefighters are trained to enter or exit the bucket only when it would be “one smooth step,” he said.

“I don’t know anybody who would step down from a tower ladder,” he said.

A second FDNY source said department personnel are trained to scale ladders with “one hand on the job and one hand for you” meaning they hold onto the ladder with one hand and equipment with the other.

“We are taught how to marry up tools together so if you’re carrying more than one tool you can carry them with one hand and still have one hand for yourself,” he said.

Firefighters are also drilled on the “three points of contact” rule — meaning that all but one hand or foot should be planted firmly on the ground or a ladder before taking another step, the source said.

WITH GRAHAM RAYMAN, GINGER ADAMS OTIS