During the two-year term he recently completed as chief of the East Williston Fire Department, Patrick Theodore has directed operations through two hurricanes and a major house fire, and he’s stepped up for a command post again.
Theodore, 38, was second assistant chief and first assistant chief over four years before acceding to the top job.
And last week, he ran unopposed to be elected second assistant chief just as his term as the department’s commander was ending.
“I love it. I love the department. I love the people here. They’re like a family to me,” Theodore said. “It’s in my blood.”
Theodore was succeeded as chief by 1st Assistant Chief Daniel Cramblitt.
The 20-year veteran of the East Williston volunteer department has also been a member of the Mineola Volunteer Ambulance Corps since 1999 and an emergency medical technician since 2001. Theodore’s full-time occupation is detective in the New York City Police Department, where he’s worked for the past 15 years.
He said he may have been a bit overconfident when he took over as chief, and found the job to be a learning experience.
“You kind of think you know it all, but as with anything else you learn something new every day,” Theodore said.
His first big test was a fire at a house under construction on Benjiefield Drive in May 2011 when he was on the job for about a month. He recalled receiving the call at 10 p.m. and seeing thick black smoke upon arriving on the scene. Then he noticed glowing embers through the smoke, and the structure quickly burst into flames. But the East Williston volunteers responded effectively, preventing significant structural damage.
“Our guys did a great job. They were very aggressive and they were to knock [the fire] down,” he said.
In August of that same year, Hurricane Irene rolled across Long Island. But Irene, reduced to a tropical storm as it struck, was nothing compared to the storm to come. Theodore remembered the feeling of foreboding he had as he watched the track of Hurricane Sandy, realizing its sustained winds packed the power to wreak havoc.
“In the days we were preparing before it hit, I had a real bad feeling about that one,” he said.
As Sandy struck, the East Williston volunteers responded to more than 60 calls between the hurricane and the nor’easter snowstorm that followed Sandy.
As with other fire departments in central Nassau County, the calls were about downed wires, trees that landed on houses and people, particularly elderly people, needing assistance. Theodore said the department’s call log doesn’t really reflect all the situations they dealt with because as they responded to one call, residents would flag down the fire trucks seeking help for another problem caused by the storm.
The East Williston Fire Department dispatched one of its own trucks to assist on the South Shore the night Sandy struck because, as Theodore recalled “there were just so many working fires down there.”
In the ensuing weeks, East Williston volunteers became part of a rotation of departments doing double duty, assisting South Shore fire departments incapable of covering their own turf because of damage they sustained to their firehouses and equipment.
“We were able to protect the village and help other fire departments,” he said. “As stressful as it was, it was one of my proudest moments here. People pretty much lived here for three days.”
Theodore lived there too and said he couldn’t remember if he slept at all during the second day he was one duty directing the department’s operations. Despite his demanding police work schedule, Theodore also participated in assisting the South Shore fire services.
He had a generator at home, but it ran out of gas as the fuel shortage persisted and he recalled how difficult it became.
“I remember sleeping at home. It got so cold, I couldn’t bear it anymore,” he said, adding that he finally took refuge at a friend’s house.
For Theodore, being both a firefighter and a cop is the fulfillment of his childhood dreams.
“I always had a lot of respect for firefighters. It seemed like a worthy thing to do,” he said. “Growing up, I wanted to be a policeman or a fireman.”
He joined the East Williston volunteers during his senior year at the Wheatley School and found a second family in the village that’s been his home since 1982.
Theodore estimates that he’s made between 50 percent and 70 percent of his department’s emergency calls, and combined with his service in MVAC, he copes with plenty of interruptions in his life.
“Sleep gets interrupted. Meals get interrupted. Family functions get interrupted,” Theodore said, smiling.
In the free time he can find, he said he enjoys playing golf and fishing.
He’s also been an active member of the Knights of Columbus Joseph Barry Council in Hicksville since 2010.
His parents still live in East Williston, and he plans to remain in the village he serves.
“I love it here. I would never leave,” Theodore said.
