SPARROWBUSH, NY – On December 15, 2025, members of Sparrowbush Engine Company gathered to remember the loss of a young firefighter from their company 46-years ago this month. 

The group met at SECO’s Main Street firehouse, where they re-hung a framed painting of the late Vincent Innella. They then visited Innella’s grave, along with the final resting places of 11 past officers of their company. SECO firefighters make this visit annually on December 15, the date of 25-year-old Innella’s line-of-duty death in1979. This was a line of duty death that also injured four other members in SECO, one severely, that day.

All who participated this year were either firefighters with Innella, responding as firefighters back then – and now, or firefighters who continue the service of family firefighters who served with Innella.

Scott Glynn, a 33-year firefighter and Past SECO Chief, and his son Scott Glynn, a lieutenant who joined the company in 2019, were among those who took part in this year’s remembrance. Past Chief Thomas Glynn, father of the senior Scott Glynn, was among four firefighters who were also injured on that 1979 date – one severely -- while fighting the fatal fire.

Past Chief John Tunney, a 51-year firefighter, and current Chief Carl Van Horn were not present at the fire that day, but both well understand the dangers any time a firefighter answers a call to duty.

Past Chief Jack Flynn, a 55-year firefighter, was present at the 1979 fire, arriving soon after the fire’s early, devastating impact on his fellow firefighters. 

Past Chief Past Chief Ken Kent, a 47-year firefighter, drove a company apparatus to this fire, a first for him at the time. Kent had spoken with Innella shortly before Innella and fellow firefighter and good friend Bobby Ey, who was 21 at the time, entered the structure.

Ey, reached this week, said he does not usually take part in the annual December 15th grave visit. But he is glad they do this, and he still thinks of his late friend every day.

“It’s just too hard. Vinny was my comrade at that fire, but also a really good friend of mine,” said Ey, who was beside Innella as they were both blasted as the fire exploded around them. “I rode in the truck. We were first on scene with the driver. Vinny was with me instead of my cousin Mike Ey, who was supposed to go but couldn’t because something was wrong with his pack. It would have been Mike and I otherwise.”

Ey recalled immediately feeling something was wrong as he and Innella moved through the residential structure.

“The house was filled with super intense heat. I said to Vinny, ‘We’ve gotta get out of here. It’s way too hot.’  And then there was an explosion and Vinny got pulled into the room. I was pulled down the stairs,” Ey recalled.

The fire was fatal to Vinny. It put Ey in Westchester Medical Hospital’s Burn Unit for three-and-a-half months. He suffered with severe, excruciating burns to his legs, his entire back, scalp, hand, and lost a finger. Extreme heat is what he attributes to a substantial portion of the impact on his body.

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“My helmet melted to my scalp, and my boots stuck to the floor where a lead crystal lamp had melted. They had to cut my boots loose,” Ey recalled.

Throughout the many surgeries and skin grafts he underwent, Ey said he received therapy and pain management help in coping with the pain and hypnosis to help him try to forget some of his worst memories -- and the ‘what ifs’ of the call.

“It was my family that was my backbone of support. They never gave up, and told me things like ‘we’re tough, and we can do this’,” he recalled.

Ey, who recently retired from a 39-year career, is an honorary member of SECO and is grateful that Innella is remembered by so many in his community.

“He was a good guy. He had a great sense of humor, and people should not forget. By sharing what happened that day, it keeps it real. That’s important,” Ey said.