Remembering Inwood firefighter Joseph Sanford Jr.

Firefighters and first responders from the Five Towns, Long Beach, Rockville Centre and upstate East Fishkill came to the Inwood firehouse on Dec. 29 to mark the fifth anniversary of Inwood volunteer firefighter Joseph Sanford Jr.’s death.

Sanford, 43, known as “Junior,” died on Dec. 23, 2014 of injuries he sustained while trying to extinguish a house fire in Woodmere four days earlier. Posthumously named a chief of the department, he had made his way up the ranks from probationary firefighter to lieutenant to captain, and became the department’s first African-American assistant chief in his 19-year firefighting career. Sanford is Inwood’s only line-of-duty death in the department’s 132-year history. Firefighters from Lawrence-Cedarhurst, Meadowmere Park and Woodmere also attended the service. East Fishkill and Inwood formed a bond after Hurricane Sandy, said ex-chief Frank Parise.

“It is hard to believe it’s been five years that we lost our brother, for Jackie and Janisha, the day is all still a blur,” said Inwood department chaplain Luke Magliaro, who presided over the memorial service. “Junior we hold this solemn tribute to you reminding each and everyone of us of the dedication and pride you so served the Inwood Fire Department and the community of Inwood until your last breath.”

Jackie is Jacqueline Sanford, Joseph’s widow, and Janisha is their daughter. “This is nice, this is my family, they are so amazing,” Jacqueline said before the memorial. “My village kept me standing. The longer it is, the harder it is.”

Jacqueline and Janisha have also witnessed Joseph being honored with a street dedication on Davis Avenue in Inwood in 2016, and following a two-year campaign that involved three levels of government —the Town of Hempstead, New York state and the federal to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names in Reston, Va. — a channel that historically began with an offensive racial epithet was renamed for Sanford in 2018.

The Sanford family has had the support of not only the town and the Inwood department, but also of other fire departments and police, as well as the Manhattan-based nonprofit Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which coordinated a fundraiser to help pay off the Sanfords’ mortgage and defray the cost of future renovations three years ago. Jacqueline returns the assistance by offering her support to families in similar circumstances.

“Whenever Tunnels to Towers asks I’m always there for whatever they need from me because I know what they are feeling,” she said, referring to the families who lost a loved in a line-of-duty death.

Magliaro highlighted Sanford’s dignity, passion and pride in being a firefighter. “Junior died performing one of his greatest passions fighting fires,” he said. “‘Nothing but pride,’ the motto of Engine Company No. 1, were not just words he used in life but rather the way he lived his life. Junior we hold this solemn tribute to you reminding each and everyone of us of the dedication and pride you so served the Inwood Fire Department and the community of Inwood until your last breath.”

Current Inwood Chief Allen Rizzo was succinct but poignant about Sanford. “That is why we are here today,” he said. “To honor him. To honor his memory. To honor his dedication and to honor his sacrifice.”