Montauk Fire Department Corner: Winter 2025

Good day and Happy New Year to all. I hope everyone had a safe and fun Holiday season with friends and family. I hope that all of us who are staying in Montauk during the winter have made sure that your safety equipment in your home is working properly (smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, etc.) so that we all enjoy a quiet winter safely in Montauk.

This is my first time writing this article for The Montauk Sun, so first I’d like to thank Ken Giustino, Stefan Lonce and the entire team at The Montauk Sun for their continued support and for giving the Montauk Fire Department an opportunity to let people know what’s happening with us.

Secondly please let me introduce myself. My name is Peter Joyce Jr. I recently had the great honor of being elected to the rank of Chief of the Montauk Fire Department. The Department is special to me as the Joyce family has been involved in the Montauk Fire Department since its beginnings when my great uncle Tom Joyce was sworn in as a charter member in 1939. So, as you can imagine I have had the opportunity to be around the Department since I was young. I became actively involved when I joined the Junior Fire Department in 2006. I was officially voted into the Department and have been a member of Company No.2 from the beginning. I am proud to say that I have followed my grandfather, Former Chief Sam Joyce Sr., my father, Peter Joyce Sr. into the ranks of Chief of the Department which has historical significance as this is the first time this has happened in the Montauk Fire Department. I am excited to serve my Department and Community from my new position as Chief and I am looking forward to working with my fellow Chiefs, Officers, men and women of the MFD in 2025. Having said that, let me introduce you to the new slate of Officers for 2025. All were officially sworn in on New Year’s Day 2025.

I would like to take this time to thank all of the folks who were so generous with your donations of toys to the Department’s annual Christmas Red Box Toy Drive. Chairman, firefighter Denis O’Reilly has informed me that this was the best year ever for donations for this event. Thank you for your generosity and thank you, Denis for putting this all together for us every year.

On Sunday, December 8, 2024 the Montauk Fire Department, along with co-hosts the Montauk Point Lions Club, held the annual Senior Citizens Holiday Dinner at the firehouse. As always it was a fun time for all. We served approximately 150 people with fine food, drink, and entertainment by Sara Conway. I’m also happy to say that we delivered another 150 meals to the homes of folks who could not attend and also handed out another 150 meals through our drive-up at the firehouse. Thank you to all the Department members and Montauk Lions who worked hard to first raise the funds for the cost of the dinner and then to participate in the actual putting on the dinner. A special thank you to Chef Joan Franzone, who has overseen the preparation of this meal for many years and her staff, including Chefs Sam Joyce and Ed Lightcap.

That’s it for this Montauk Fire Department Corner. I hope everyone has a safe and fun Martin Luther King holiday weekend, and I look forward to further to keeping you up to date with information concerning the department in future editions.

~ Peter Joyce, Jr., Chief, Montauk Fire Department

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