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PHOTO:
Aude J. Lagorce
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| Brian
Williams, 22, a captain in the Broad Channel Volunteer
Fire Department, looks out from a fire truck. |
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Fighting
Fires For Free
By Jessica
Belasco
 he
New York City Fire Department won't come and rescue your cat
out of a tree. They won't drive you from Queens to a hospital in
Westchester County. But, luckily for the residents of one small
Jamaica Bay island, the Broad Channel firefighters will.
And they'll do it for free.
The Broad
Channel Volunteer Fire Department is one of only 10 volunteer
fire departments left in New York City, and the only one that operates
24 hours a day, seven days a week. Forty volunteers — or "vollies"
— handle every emergency on the island, in addition to their
regular jobs.
The department does have some similarities to the New York City
fire companies. Each firefighter is certified and fully trained,
as are the EMT's who drive the two ambulances. They have the latest
equipment — in most cases, better than the city's. Their Jaws
of Life, for example, is more advanced that the ones the pros use.
"The
only difference between us and paid professional firemen is that
they're paid," said Brian Williams, 22, a captain in the department.
 f course,
there are some other differences. Because the department consists
entirely of volunteers, it gets little money from the city; most
of its funding comes from community donations. In addition, the
vollies serve a tiny area — less than 3,000 people live on
Broad Channel, an island a mile long and four blocks wide. There
are only 990 households on the island, so the volunteers know most
of the people they help out.
"We care a little more," said Robert Leonard, 24, a lieutenant
in the department.
"It's your community," said Williams. "Of course
you're going to care. We ask which hospital you want to go to. We
try to please them because they finance us." Because they receive
money from insurance companies for each ambulance ride, the vollies
are able to take patients to their hospital of choice, even if it's
miles away. Still, for emergencies, there is a hospital only eight
minutes away, in Rockaway.
The department fights only about 10 house fires a year. Most of
the other 700 annual calls they get are medical emergencies, brush
fires, or boating accidents (the department has a boat and six certified
divers among its volunteers).
he department
was established in 1905 and incorporated two years later, when it
obtained its fire charter from the state. There is a city company
on Howard Beach, which is just a bridge away from Broad Channel
and another on the Rockaway peninsula, across a different bridge.
The department is organized like the FDNY,
with Chief Craig Boyle supervising a team of lower chiefs, captains
and lieutenants. Some volunteers serve as dispatchers, like Eileen
Smith. She has been with the department for 30 years and is one
of five women there.
Each volunteer is required to serve at least one four-hour shift
per week, although many do much more. Williams, Leonard, and Eddie
Wilmarth, 22, another lieutenant, often spend their free time at
the firehouse just hanging out. There's a grill in the backyard;
upstairs they lounge on couches, watching a big-screen television
or playing games on a volunteer's X-Box video game console.
"People stay here till two, three [a.m.], playing the video
game," Williams said.
Most of the volunteers have spent their lives on Broad Channel.
Williams and Wilmarth grew up together and attended school across
the street from the firehouse. At 12, they joined the junior fire
department.
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The
junior department is for kids aged 12 to 17 who want to help out
at the firehouse. They clean, keep up the house, or perform dispatch
duties. Many of the adult volunteers started out as junior members.
"We mold the kids," said Williams. "It keeps the
kids off the street."
Currently there are about 15 kids participating in the program,
which earns them community service hours for Boy Scouts or school
and is a plus on their resumes and college applications. The chief
of the junior department is its oldest member. When members turn
17, they can become certified at the fire academy and join the senior
department; firefighters must be 18 to ride the fire truck. <Click
here for a photo tour of the firehouse and its equipment> The
junior members answer phones and call the hospital to notify them
of incoming patients.
Having worked as both junior and senior members, many of the volunteers
get jobs as firefighters or EMT's in the city. Williams drives an
ambulance in Brooklyn. He often works several 16-hour shifts in
a row, then comes home only to be called on an emergency in Broad
Channel.
"The worst is when you come home, sit down to eat, and the
alarm goes off," he said.
here
are actually two alarms, a small one and a larger one, and the whole
island can hear them when they go off. Although many volunteers
carry beepers to notify them when they're needed, some volunteers
who live a few houses down the block from the station simply run
over when they hear the alarm, day or night. Sometimes volunteers
sleep overnight at the firehouse so they can jump into action immediately
if a call comes in.
"Technically I'm here 24 hours a day," Leonard said, showing
the beeper at his waist.
Inside the firehouse, the firefighters listen to the city's radio
so they can hear all emergencies. Sometimes they drive over to Breezy
Point, on the western tip of Rockaway, to help out if there's a
major accident. They also helped at the Rockaway plane crash and
the World Trade Center attacks in 2001. During that event, one of
their ambulances was crushed and several volunteers were hurt, earning
them medals for bravery.
The city replaced the ambulance, but the department must raise money
for its other needs. They "shake the hat" during the summer,
asking for change, and host Mardi Gras every other year (alternating
with the Broad Channel Athletic Club). And every year they have
a fund drive, going door-to-door to ask for donations.
"It's called a fund drive, but it's not fun," said Williams.
 onetheless,
the department is in constant need of money. They've been in the
same firehouse since 1917, even though they outgrew it long ago.
Leonard recently had to replace a wall which was frequently damaged
by volunteers backing the fire truck into the tiny garage. Only
recently did they replace their old-fashioned double doors with
a donated automatic door, after volunteers drove a truck through
it when it wouldn't open.
The department always needs more volunteers, too. Occasionally they
will accept people who are not from Broad Channel, such as students
from La Guardia College who have earned EMT cards and want to use
them. Williams said they need all the competent volunteers they
can get. After all, they have a reputation to uphold. That's one
of the disadvantages or one of the advantages of serving as a volunteer
in a tiny community, depending on how you look at it.
"People see us walking down the street and say thanks,"
Williams said.
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