Cutting response time: Long Island fire department cites overnight program.
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Newsday photo by Ed Betz
Deer Park Fire Department website
In 2004 the average response time for the New York’s Deer Park Fire Department was 8 minutes, 35 seconds. It is now under five minutes. The dramatic drop is easily explained. Seventeen-months-ago the department instituted an overnight program which requires all but their long-time members to sleep one night a week at the firehouse. Now the fire company in Suffolk County, Long Island has a full crew sleeping at the firehouse 95 percent of the time.
Here are excerpts from a Newsday article by Stacey Altherr:
Officials believe the overnight program is the first of its kind on the Island.
Robert Leonard of the state Firemen’s Association said the organization “supports any and all creative approaches, such as this program in Deer Park, that allows our volunteer firefighters to effectively and efficiently serve their community.”
During their overnight shifts, which run from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., the crew also trains in firefighting techniques, (First Assistant Chief Richard) Incandela said. A medical emergency crew also is on site during the night.
The crew first slept in recliners, but recently, offices were converted to men’s and women’s bunks. Deer Park Fire chairman Anthony Macaluso said the crew often eats together.
Long Island depends on its thousands of volunteers to respond to fire calls. Fire officials have complained about difficulty rousing volunteers, who then have to drive to the firehouse, often in the middle of the night. A 2005 Newsday analysis found 80 percent of similar Suffolk departments failed the national response-time standard of getting a crew to the scene in 9 minutes 90 percent of the time.
