N. Amityville Fire Co. gets high marks after resuming emergency calls

A dozen members of the North Amityville Fire Co. gathered the night of Feb. 28 and stared intently at the clock. When midnight struck, the firehouse erupted in screams and cheers.

“We were so excited, we celebrated,” firefighter and EMT Rashada Delaney said. “We were definitely ready for that first call.”

The fire company was rejoicing in being able to resume answering emergency calls on March 1, two months after Babylon Town canceled its contract due to long response times amid allegations of financial mismanagement, harassment and violence in the firehouse.

Since returning, North Amityville Fire has thrived, town officials said, with improved response times, increased membership and plans to expand even further.

“I’m thrilled because it’s come together much quicker than I thought,” said Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer.

The fire company now has a nearly $2.9 million contract with the town. Four neighboring departments were paid $320,000 for answering North Amityville’s calls in January and February, money that came out of the fire company’s original $3.2 million contract for the year.

Delaney said she “felt like a fish out of water” on that first call back after two months.

“It was like starting all over again,” she said. “But then the muscle memory kicked in, and it just felt amazing.”

Stony Brook University Hospital has been helping with EMT calls, but even when receiving multiple calls at the same time, North Amityville has been responding, said FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief Frank Leeb, who was hired by the town in February to supervise the company’s overhaul. He is paid $45,000 a year.

“It’s a small but very dedicated group of volunteers,” said Leeb, a longtime member of the East Farmingdale Fire Company. “They exceeded my expectations for the month.”

The town canceled its contract with North Amityville on Jan. 7 after response times rose to as much as an hour. For March, the company averaged response times of 5:20 for fires and 5:06 for ambulances, answering all 154 calls received without assistance from other departments, town spokesman Patrick Maslinski said.

In 2021, the fire company needed other departments to help on more than 35% of calls, town statistics show.

Fire company members have also replaced three board members and installed another who had been elected in December. 

“We’re creating a new culture, a positive culture here,” said Chief Thomas Nelson.

Stronger checks and balances

The North Amityville board is setting up checks and balances to make sure past indiscretions aren’t repeated and soon will hire an accountant to review their finances, Leeb said. Previous claims of financial mismanagement led to subpoenas to the town from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office and an ongoing audit by the state comptroller’s office.

Delaney is the company’s first female board member and said they were working to create an atmosphere of transparency with an open dialogue.

“Everyone has the ability to speak and without the fear of retaliation,” she said, and as a result, “everyone is excited to show up now.”

The fire company was down to five paid EMTs, no paramedics and a group of about 12 core volunteer firefighters late last year, Nelson said, which is one-third of the staff needed to handle the company’s nearly 2,400 annual calls. 

Since resuming calls, the company has brought in seven new firefighters and hired 24 EMTs, Delaney said. North Amityville Fire also has rehired paid paramedic Emerson Sanchez, who quit in November after alleging that his attempts to hire EMTs were rebuffed and equipment was not maintained.

Leeb said he would like to add 15 to 20 more firefighters to the company’s core group of 25. North Amityville plans to start a junior firefighter program for teens, a first for the fire company, said Leeb, who joined East Farmingdale’s junior program nearly 40 years ago.

He said such programs not only bring in potential lifelong members like himself, but also may prompt their parents to volunteer. He said it’s just one tactic to try to restore the North Amityville Fire Co. to its former stature as a robust organization.

“They were a vibrant, community-oriented department with a lot of pride and a lot of members,” he said. “They still have a lot of pride; they just don’t have a lot of members.”

The fire company is planning to take advantage of next weekend’s statewide volunteer firefighter recruitment event. The company will give visitors firehouse tours, do demonstrations, provide food and drinks and give out information from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 23-24.

“People can get to know us and we can build back our relationship with the community,” Nelson said.

Robert Leonard, spokesman for the Albany-based Firefighters Association of the State of New York, said recruiting on Long Island is particularly hard, as high taxes and the need for some residents to work two or more jobs leaves little time for volunteering. As call volumes continue to rise, many members are aging out of certain roles, he said, and the number of young people returning to Long Island after going away to college has been dwindling.

North Amityville members said they remain hopeful they will increase membership and show the community they are invested in their care. Leeb called their work in March a “really small sample” of the kind of effort that needs to be continued over time. 

“This isn’t about success for just five or six months,” Leeb said. “We want sustainable success so that we can look back in five or 10 years and say that March 1, 2022 date was just the rebirth.”

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.