Montauk Fire Department Corner

Welcome everybody to this month’s Montauk Fire Department Corner. I am sure you feel as I do that this summer really flew by. It’s hard to believe that we are already celebrating Labor Day. I truly hope that everyone, our citizens of Montauk and our guests, had a safe and fun summer.

There are three topics that I want to address this month. The first is a safety issue. I, and the other officers who are tasked to respond to Chief investigations, have noticed an alarming increase in dead batteries in smoke alarms. I can’t stress enough the importance of insuring that your fire/smoke detectors have fresh batteries. It is an easy procedure to change them and it will keep you and your family that much safer.

I would like to thank the officers, men and women of the Montauk Fire Department for all their efforts during the last several months of the summer season. These men and women, all volunteers, take many hours of their personal lives to assist others in our community. I am proud to be their Chief and I can’t thank them enough for their help and support.

Lastly, I want to congratulate and thank the Montauk Fire Department TERC TEAM. TERC is an acronym for Transportation/Emergency/Rescue/ Committee that was started in 2002 by MFD Ex-Chief Joe Lenahan. This Team conducts “Real World Training” in the sizing up, stabilizing, and patient caring while performing vehicle extrications. They also compete around the world in TERC TEAM competitions. I am proud to say that over the years our Team has taken 5th place in the world event in Puyallup, Washington, four 1st place regional championships, nine Long Island championships, two top Incident Command awards, and two top merit awards. In their most recent competition they took 1st place in five different categories at the Hagerman Fire Department in Central Suffolk. Although many MFD firemen and firewomen have been a part of this Team, the current Team consists of Ex-Chief Joe Lenahan (Incident Commander), Thom Fleming (Medic), Chris Carillo, Domingo Schiappacasse, and Francisco “Tato” Estrella (Tool Operators), and Ex-Chief Mike “Mad Dog” Mirras (Tool Handler and Backup Medic). Our entire community should be very proud of our TERC Team, since their accomplishments are a product of very hard work and long hours of training. Their next upcoming competition is an international event in Nova Scotia, Canada. Let’s all wish them the best of luck.
Please remember to join us at the Fire House on September 17th for this year’s Big Bucks Drawing. As always, it will be a great day of Family fun, excitement and prizes.

That’s all for this month. I hope everyone has a safe and fun Labor Day weekend. I look forward to keeping all the Montauk Sun readers apprised of the news of the Montauk Fire Department in the months ahead.

~ Vincent Franzone, Chief
Montauk Fire Department