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Crime & Safety

Fire District Discusses Upcoming Elections And Wounded Warriors

The district will also be updating its radio dispatch system.

The has a hectic upcoming week between its commissioner election next Tuesday and reworking the dispatch service, but the fire commissioners and chiefs focused on its successful  event first at their bi-monthly meeting on Tuesday. 

Leading up to OWW, New Hyde Park businesses and private citizens donated items including TVs, IPods, clothing and other memorabilia which was auctioned off Nov. 12 at the NHPFD headquarters. The department was able to raise over $16,000 to spend on sweatshirts, T-shirts, baseball caps and other items that were delivered to the soldiers at North Carolina's Camp Legeune and Fort Bragg by eight NHPFD members last weekend.

"They loved that stuff," Commissioner Michael Dolan said. "They were amazed at what we did and were happy we came down because it gave them a little morale boost."

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The fire department members enjoyed delivering presents as well as boxes of holiday cards made by grade school students because of the soldiers' response. The eight NHPFD members firefighters were well taken care of once they arrived at the bases. They were even able to sleep in the officers' quarters and eat in the mess hall with the soldiers.

"It really is a great thing," Dolan said, "especially around the holidays."

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The department has been participating in the program for six consecutive years and Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Richard Stein mentioned that it "grows little by little each year" with the continued support of other departments in the First Battalion and businesses like the New Hyde Park Diner, which donates all the food for the fundraising auction.

Following the success of Operation Wounded Warrior, the NHPFD hopes to have similar results with the upcoming transition from an old-fashioned, copper-based box alarm system to a newer radio dispatch system. The system will move from Garden City to Westbury and go online Dec. 14, but dispatch officers will still be on hand in Garden City until the department gets the new system installed on their end.

According to Commissioner Michael Bonura, who is running for re-election next Tuesday, the new system is beneficial for the department because the absence of phone lines in favor of radio waves means no more phone line maintenance charges.

The commissioners also mentioned that a brand new ambulance was just purchased for the Rescue 174 Company and is awaiting New York certification. The old ambulance, however, will not be junked; it will be used to block off accident scenes and as a station where emergency workers can have access to hydrating liquids while on the job.

The Board of Commissioners will meet again on Dec. 21, and there will be an induction of new chiefs on Jan. 4.

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