NEWSDAY, SAVE MY CHILD

Long Island’s only daily newspaper, Newsday, started an eight-part series on the infrastructure of the Long Island volunteer fire departments on November 13. While the articles that have appeared in print so far don’t come out and say there is malfeasance in the expenditures of various fire districts, the articles I’ve read seem to imply that’s where the stories are/will be going. (Knowing journalism, a "good" story is ALWAYS about something bad!).

I don’t doubt for a minute there are savings to be had should countywide fire districts be instituted (rather than community based ones), nor do I doubt there are abuses in the purchasing system (see: Roslyn School District), which if more closely watched, could result in savings to taxpayers.

However, I don’t think our volunteer fire departments deserve an eight-part investigative series on what they’re doing wrong.

No one wants to spend money on the military unless there’re wars to fight, no one wants to pay the real estate taxes we pay until they move away and find out you don’t get anything for nothing. Ditto with the local fire departments: the hue and cry will be heard far and wide, but when your house goes on fire, you have a heart attack or your child is in a car accident, and no one responds or the response is ineffectual who will you blame? Newsday?

The single biggest problem I have with the fire departments is that they suffer from a lack of volunteers. And if this trend continues, I don’t see an alternative but to go to a paid department. These people are VOLUNTEERS, and if you don’t know what they do, ask one what a “regular” day is like.

Are there bennies to being a vol? Damn, I hope so, but I don’t see what kind of bennies can make up for getting called out at 2 a.m. to pull a grapefruit-sectioned body out of a head-on or carry the third-degree burnt corpse of a child out of a house fire.

To my knowledge, fire district budgets are voted on, as are fire commissioners, equipment purchases, et al. If my increasingly collapsing memory of doing stories on local departments serves me … like, NOBODY votes in these elections except firefighters, other emergency service personnel and their families. If you don’t like what your department is spending its money on, vote or shut up.

As for Newsday … It’s easy to point out problems. Just once I’d like to see them offer solutions.