William "Billy" Burke (March 9th, 1955 - September 11th, 2001) was a New York City firefighter who died on September 11th, 2001 while trapped inside the North Tower of the World Trade Centre. His failure to escape was in fact a self-sacrifice, with Burke telling other firefighters to get out and telling them he was right behind them to prevent them from trying to go back for him. He did this because he encountered one firefighter trying to help a civilian who he knew had no chance of escape, and persuaded him to leave to save his life.