Late Firefighter Remembered for Service

When Martinsville resident Tony Natalizio Jr. was about 8 years old, his father, Anthony Natalizio, joined the Martinsville Volunteer Fire Department, dedicating himself to public service.

“I used to sit in the car when he went to fires, and go to the fire house when they had drills,” Tony Natalizio Jr. said. “I grew up around the fire house.”

A worker at the Johns Manville factory, Anthony Natalizio worked nights and was able to help with the fire company during the day.

“If there was an early morning fire, he would run out even if he worked the late shift the night before,” Tony Natalizio Jr. said. “He was one of the core people in the company.”

But now, 40 years ago Wednesday, Natalizio remembered the 1971 accident that claimed his father’s life two months later.

On Feb. 16, 1971, Anthony Natalizio was engulfed in flaming gasoline after a gas tank burst while he was fighting a car fire. Natalizio suffered burns over a good portion of his body and was transported to the Harlem Hospital Burn Center in New York City, where he died on April 5.

“I go to Blessed Sacrament Church every year on the anniversary of the day he was hurt,” Tony Natalizio Jr. said. “Every year I have a Mass said for the safety of the firefighters.”

Following Anthony Natalizio’s death, the Martinsville Volunteer Fire Department set up a trust to help Tony Natalizio continue his education.

“And when he was hurt, the company accommodated us,” Natalizio said. “They would drive us to New York to the burn unit, and give us full access to the firehouse if we needed to make phone calls.”

Then, 27 years after his father’s death, Natalizio said the company dedicated a plaque to the late firefighter.

“It was touching that they would still remember him,” Natalizio said. “Even the youngest members in the company now know of my dad. This department still holds the memory.”

But Natalizio said his father’s time was not just spent serving the residents through the fire company. He was also in the Martinsville Rescue Squad and what was then known as the special police force.

After the Bridgewater Township Police Department was formed in 1965, a special force was created because there were only a few trained officers. The department reached out to the community for a special force of people who would have no weapons or uniforms.

“They would ride along with the officers so there were two people in the car,” Natalizio said. “It was purely volunteer. If there was an event that needed police coverage, the special squad took care of it so the police could be out in the town.”

And with his father’s volunteer work, Natalizio said, it was unbelievable how many people turned out to pay their respects after his death.

“You have no idea of the procession that the fire company, rescue squad and police department gave,” he said. “It was a lineup on Country Club Road at Route 28 all the way to close to Route 202.”

“It was unbelievable,” he added. “A relative told me it reminded them of a Kennedy funeral.”

Natalizio said he is proud to know that people in the company still remember his father, and younger members have spoken of him.

“And I must go by the plaque a dozen times every day,” he said. “They never forgot.”

“At the dedication of the plaque, there were five members that were there when my dad was in the company,” he added. “There have to be fewer of them now, and they were not on active duty.”

Natalizio said he himself is not a member of the fire company, though he helped build the new company building, and he knew it was not a topic he could necessarily broach with his mother.

“My mom was always jittery about it, so I never broached the subject,” he said. “She was afraid.”

But it takes a special person, Natalizio said, to be accepting of a spouse’s participation in the company.

“You have to be a strong spouse,” he said. “If you are in the middle of a family dinner and the tone goes up, a fire company member will jump.”

Natalizio said he is proud of the work the firefighters, and his own father, have done for the community as a whole.

“The department is very active in the community, and I think awareness is key,” he said. “Even with the rescue squad, people take it for granted.”

“The residents sometimes don’t realize what the members do,” he added. “But there is so much training, and it is amazing how much time a volunteer member puts in.”