Bethpage-Tribune_2004-10-08

              >
Celebrating
42 Tears In
SERVING BETHPAGE, ISLAND TREES, OLD BETHPAGE, PLAINVIEW, SEAFORD AND PLAINEDGE
VOL 42 NO. 36 'HPAGE PUBLIC LIBRARY October 8-14, 2004 FORTY CENTS
age Fire Department Ladder Truck
& Monument Dedication
A Beautiful marble monument was dedicated in Brian Hickey's memory.
The monument will have two benches on either side made with steel
from the World Trade Center site.
>r;:. ':
Councilwoman Rose Walker, Legislator Ed Mangano, along with
Supervisor John Venditto and Commissioner William Zura present
Donna Hickey with a commemorative plaque.
Five years ago, the Bethpage
Fire District set out to replace their
aging 1984, Mack Aerialscope
Tower Ladder. Ladder Company 3 is
lucky to have a number of active
Firefighters in the company that are
New York City Firefighters. This
provided an excellent knowledge
base for drawing up the plans for the
only Ladder truck to service the Fire
District.
A Committee of Firefighters was
put together consisting of the
officers and several senior members
of the Company. The Committee
was spearheaded by Commissioner
William Zura. The goal of the
Committee was to keep as much of
the functionality of the present
Tower Ladder, keeping the overall
length as short as possible and
obviously have an enclosed cab
apparatus for the protection of the
firefighters.
The Committee chairman, Ex-
Captain Timothy Wodicka, had an
idea that he had picked up from
Friends of his in the Kentland
Volunteer Fire Department in Prince
Georges County Maryland. The
Kentland Fire Department had
procured a used New York City Fire
Department Tower Ladder and sent
it to then Aerialscope of Virginia to
be re-mounted on a Seagrave. This
idea was the best of both worlds. A
truck that met functionality needs at
a greatly reduced price. The
committee chose to take this route.
At first, the Commissioners of the
Fire District wanted to investigate
the cost of new vs. a remount and
there were some concerns of
remounting a twenty year old boom
on a new chassis. The first visit was
to a manufacturer that the Fire
District has used for most of their
fleet to see if they would be able to
complete the task. Because the
Aerialscope boom has specific
chassis needs, it was determined
that this was not able to be done by
that manufacturer. Aerialscope was
contacted through the local sales
representative (Rescue Vehicles
Inc. of Bohemia, New York) and a
meeting set up with their engineers
to discuss the Fire District's options.
From the onset, getting the
Firefighters inside was a paramount
concern. Manpower carrying
capability was also a concern. The
two chassis that Aerialscope used,
(Spartan and Seagrave) each has its
good and bad features. In the end,
the Spartan chassis won out over
the Seagrave because of the ability
of the Spartan cab to carry more
manpower, (eight vs. six persons).
After several meetings and
plenty of colorful discussions, the
Commissioners decided to go with
the committee's recommendation
and investigate the Re-mounting of
the present Tower Ladder to a
Spartan Chassis. Great care was
given during the writing of the
specification to ensure that all
present and future needs of the Fire
District were met. This was going to
be a truck that would serve the Fire
District for the next twenty years.
The plan called for the total
disassembly of the current tower
ladder. Re-use the Supra structure,
the outriggers, the jacks and most
importantly the boom and bucket.
These items-were all torn down,
completely checked for any defects,
repacked and resealed. New
hydraulic tanks and pumps were
included in the specs. Then, re­mount
all these items on a New
Spartan Chassis. The body was to
be provided by Seagrave Inc. and
was to be the New York City style
(Continued on Page 10)
Navy Property Planning Meeting:
Mark your calendars:
Thursday Oct 14, 2004 7PM Bethpage High School:
Saturday Oct 16, 2004 9AM JFK Middle School
By Linda Mangano
As Nassau County moves closer
to taking ownership of the former
Navy Property in Bethpage County
Executive Suozzi and Legislator
Edward Mangano are hosting a
Community Planning Process. The
process begins with a community
meeting on Thursday Oct 14 at 7PM
at Bethpage High School, a daylong
design workshop on Saturday Oct
16th beginning at 9AM at the JFK
Middle School, followed by a
meeting on November 9 and
November 29*'.
Thursday's evening meeting will
consist of a presentation about the
former Navy property (operated by
Northrop/Grumman for many years)
providing its history, infrastructure
and range of opportunities for
redevelopment. In addition,
planners will explain Saturday's
design day process.
Saturday is a daylong workshop
that will provide participants with
an opportunity to propose and
discuss their ideas and vision with
professional planners and engineers
retained by the County to assist you
in the planning process. Residents,
interested developers, planners and
engineers are invited to participate.
Participant proposals will be
developed into three redevelopment
options, which will be presented to
the community on November 9.
Residents are encouraged to
comment on the three proposals,
which will be presented along with
economic and technical facts and
figures regarding feasibility. Public
(Continued on Page 10)