Morris firefighters respond in force for sick girl

Red and blue emergency flashers blended with Christmas lights along Sheridan Lane in Boonton Township Sunday afternoon as nearly two dozen fire companies and other first-responding agencies showed up to support a little girl battling leukemia.

What started out as a modest request for a ladder truck to help Annie Bush's family put up Christmas lights on their house turned into a 54-truck parade past her address, according to Boonton Township Fire Chief Steve Tallody.

A firefighter friend had told Tallody about his niece, Annie, 5, who had been undergoing treatment at the Goryeb Children's Hospital in Morristown since the summer.

"He told us Annie's story and obviously, the parents have been very busy with all of that, and haven't have time to set up the (Christmas) lights," Tallody said. "That's obviously a big thing every year in the Sheridan Lane neighborhood. Everyone does their house up in lights and it's a big draw. And he wondered if we could send a truck over to help."

Tallody quickly agreed, but after previously hearing about a similar community-outreach effort during a leadership program, "I was thinking to myself, why don't we go above and beyond for Annie?"

After a few calls to neighboring mutual-aid departments, "The word spread like wildfire, and before you know, we had over 23 different fire departments, EMS agencies and other agencies like Corigliano Towing and Glander Electric," Tallody said. "Everyone, without hesitation, said absolutely we will have a truck there, if not two or three trucks."

"I was watching a game a while back with my brother-in-law, who is a fireman down in Bedminster-Far Hills, and joked to him that this is not the year for me to fall off my ladder hanging up Christmas lights," said Annie's father, Justin Bush. "Why don't you get your ladder truck up here to help me out?"

The jest made its way to Talloday and to the vehicles meeting up on Sunday in the parking lot of the St. Clare's-Riverside hospital campus on Powerville Road. They made their way from there to Grove Street and ultimately Sheridan Lane.

"We really had no idea of the size or scope of what he had created until 50-something fire trucks drove down the road with their sirens blaring," Bush said. "It was something else."

Grove Street resident Donald Bauman said he was surprised to see a police car from neighboring Mountain Lakes come around his corner.

"The next I heard was cops and firemen, with sirens on, going to this young girl's house," Bauman said. "I found out from my neighbors what the purpose of it was. It brought a tear to my eye, with what they were doing. Can you ask for any more than that? Can you ask for any more than these guys showing up on a Sunday afternoon?"

"For a cause like that? that's an absolute," said Mike Corigliano, who arranged for his flatbed tower and two heavy-duty tow trucks to join the 10-minute parade. "I wish that little girl all the best in the world."

Bush said his daughter loved the parade, especially getting a chance to blast a fire-truck horn and play with Tallody's dog, which came along for the ride.

"It wasn't two or three or four trucks from town, it was 54 trucks, honking their horns and waving their hands out the window," Bush said. "All these guys took this time out to come and do this for some little girl they don't even know. And for the most part, the guys from other towns, they just left. They didn't even stop for a slap on the back. They are like these anonymous heroes."

Bush added that the community has rallied to their side more than once.

"This all came on the heels of a whole bunch of moms and Girl Scouts from town who came and put Christmas decorations in our front yard," he said. "There's a lot of good in the world."

"That's the kind of great things you see from these volunteer fire departments, and police departments, all the time," Assemblyman Anthony M. Bucco, a Boonton Township resident and member of the Boonton Fire Department, said when he heard about the response. "These people pulling together for someone in need, and that's what makes this area special."

After the parade passed, the family owners of the Glander Electric Company, several of whom are Boonton Township volunteer fire fighters, circled back with their bucket truck.

"They strung the lights on the upper peaks of my house," Bush said. "It was incredible."

Bush said the treatments have been difficult for his daughter, but "According to the doctors, everything really is going as well as can be expected," he said. "It's a long road, but so far, so good. The doctors are happy."

Participants included the Boonton Township, Mountain Lakes and Boonton fire and police departments, Boonton Kiwanis Ambulance Squad, Rockaway Township Fire Department, Pequannock Co. No.1 Fire Department, Lake Hiawatha Fire Department, Parsippany Fire Dist. 5, Lincoln Park Fire Department, Rainbow Lakes Fire Company, Mt. Tabor Fire District 1, Picatinny Arsenal Fire Department, Denville Fire and EMS, Bloomingdale Fire Department, Riverdale Fire Department, Kinnelon Fire Company, Butler Fire Department, Montville Fire Department and New Jersey Forest Fire Service.

Readers can follow Annie's progress at anniesbigchallenge.blogspot.com.

Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973091709242; wwesthoven@GannettNJ.com.