Augie Carnevale still remembers the first fire calls he responded to as a volunteer firefighter in the Garden City Park Fire Department.
He was 18 years old, a senior at New Hyde Park Memorial High School, when he helped out at two house fires three days after joining the department with a buddy whose father was a volunteer.
He remembers arriving at one scene, feeling more than a little bit unsure of himself as he was handling a hose in the face of the roaring flames, and he remembered thinking, “What am I nuts? What am I doing here?”
But he also remembers that his initial experiences motivated him to stay with it .
“That’s what made the passion. That’s what hooked me,” said the 52-year-old Carnevale, who has lived in the district for 47 years.
And 34 years later, he remains hooked and running for a fourth term as a fire commissioner in the Garden City Park Water-Fire District.
“I love it and it’s something that I have time for,” said Carnevale, who works as a supervisor at Casa Redimix.
Carnevale points to his record over the past three terms of keeping costs down in justifying his re-election as he runs against challenger Jerome Galluscio in balloting set to take place on Tuesday, Dec. 13.
Carnevale said his record includes fulfilling a promise to eliminate the cars that had been a standard perk for the three district fire commissioners.
Last year, all portable two-way radios – that include “Mayday” buttons for firefighters who become trapped – were replaced and as were self-contained breathing apparatuses with state-of-the-art Drager SCBAs.
Carnevale said he has also helped ensure that the Garden City Fire Department keeps current with contemporary firefighting by holding regularly scheduled training sessions over the past few years. The department held three training days in the past year: water rescue drills at Herricks Pond, a course on cutting accident victims out of cars and a weapons of mass destruction drill to prepare against the prospect of a “dirty” bomb set off in the New York metro area.
“The department’s very heavily into training,” Carnevale said. “The costs are minimal. We’re paying the instructors for the day.”
Water service costs are minimal in the district as well, having remained constant for the past 17 years, according to Carnevale.
As part of a promise to go after ground water polluters, the Garden City Park Water and Fire District received a $1.5 million settlement in a class-action suit against large oil companies who had contaminated ground in the district. The state Department of Environmental is currently remediating a chemical plume from this contamination on Armstrong Road.
The water and fire district also continued work to upgrade pumping stations and large water mains throughout the community, Carnevale said. The pump station on County Courthouse Road and Broadway, which dates back to the 1950s also will soon be replaced to improved water pressure volume with $2 million earmarked in the budget for the project.
“The water equipment has evolved and we can make it better. It’s time to redo it,” Carnevale said.
Next year, the fire commissioners have plans to replace a 21-year-old pump truck with a new $500,000 pumper with the same projected life span.
Galluscio has accused Carnevale of being a “bully” and single-handedly pushing for the use of sirens for all fire calls in a month-long test the Garden City Park Fire Department is currently conducting. The test, intended to increase volunteers response rates to emergency calls, is a quality-of-life issue among residents near the fire department’s substation on Denton Avenue.
But Carnevale said the idea to test use of the sirens came directly from Garden City Fire Department Chief William Rudnick, with the fire commissioners taking no position on the test to date.
Carnevale acknowledges that “it may become an issue” for discussion between the fire commissioners and the fire department chiefs, but he said the department has the right to run the test before full-time use of the sirens is considered as a long-term plan.
If it does become standard operating procedure for the department, Carnevale said the fire commissioners are already considering the idea of raising the height of the sirens at the substation to mitigate the impact of noise on the neighborhood.
Commenting on Galluscio’s fitness to serve as a commissioner in light of his suspended law license, he said, “With Mr. Galluscio’s track record, I’d be extremely concerned for our residents.”
