Melvin B. Milner, a retired salesman and longtime fire buff, died Thursday of complications from heart disease and diabetes at his Pikesville home. He was 74.

He retired last year from ICM, a Philadelphia-based toy and novelty company where he had worked since 1980. Earlier, he was a salesman with David Milner and Co., a business founded by his father in 1916. The Washington Boulevard company dealt in sundries, toys and school supplies, and closed in 1980.

Born in Baltimore and raised on Braddish Avenue, Mr. Milner was a 1945 graduate of City College.

He served in the Army during the 1940s, playing baritone horn in an Army band.

Mr. Milner was a 52-year member of Box 414 Association, a fire buffs organization that provides beverages and food for public safety personnel at the site of major fires and emergencies. For many years on Christmas, he operated the organization's coffee wagon so Christian members could spend the day with their families.

Mr. Milner was honored twice for helping the city Police Department: He was given a certificate in 1970 recognizing "courageous assistance" in the arrest of a state prison inmate, and was honored in 1973 by Mayor William Donald Schaefer for his volunteer efforts in Box 414.

He also belonged to BNN - Breaking News Network - a volunteer communications service that transmits news of working fires and police emergencies.

He was a charter member of the Shomrim Society, the Jewish fraternal order of police, and a former president of the Pickwick-Wellwood Neighborhood Association.

Mr. Milner was posthumously named an honorary member of the Baltimore County Fraternal Order of Police.

Services were held Sunday.

Survivors include his wife of 48 years, the former Ethel Zemlak; a son, David Martin Milner of Jarrettsville; two daughters, Randi Milner Zenitz of Pikesville and Renee Susan Rendel of Reisterstown; a brother, Ervin B. Milner of Baltimore; and seven grandchildren.