Levy: Volunteers are Backbone of Community

Weeks ago, with the New Year no more than an hour old, a leaking valve on a 30,000 gallon propane tank in Mastic was discovered.

The 2,000 residents in the impacted area are not likely to soon forget the urgent knocks on their door in the middle of the night with a fire or police official telling them they needed to evacuate immediately.

But all of us in Suffolk should not forget the bravery and the willingness of our many volunteers – from many agencies – who put themselves at risk in responding to what could have been an unprecedented disaster for Long Island.

We should never take for granted the training, the dedication and the willingness of our volunteer first responders – all of which were on display on New Year’s Day.

Volunteers, through the coordination of our Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services division, train countless hours for a wide variety of scenarios. They participate in mock drills, they brush up on techniques and they practice the basics of their trade to stay fresh.

And on New Year’s Day, our volunteers were faced with a realtime situation, rapidly unfolding on a large scale, that required a massive, coordinated response. And our volunteers did not let us down.

Working with professional response agencies, our volunteer first responders led thousands of residents to safety while simultaneously working to contain the scene of the leak.

Last week I held a ceremony in Mastic to recognize the bravery of the response of Chief Dwight Blankenship and the entire department; but the ceremony was also to thank all of our brave volunteers throughout the county. In total, 80 volunteer units from Suffolk County unit were on the scene in Mastic throughout New Year’s Day – from Orient to Huntington Station. Not since the Sunrise Wildfires of 1995 have we seen such a response.

As County Executive, on behalf of all the people of Suffolk County, I applaud not only the magnitude of those volunteers’ efforts, but the success of those efforts. Because at the end of the day, all of our volunteers and all of the residents of Mastic and Shirley returned home. No doubt tired. Maybe shaken. But safe!