Garden City Park Fire Department using sirens for all calls

Richard Tedesco

The Garden City Park Fire Department is conducting a month-long test of its audible siren alarm system in an effort to increase the response rate of its volunteers to emergency situations.

The audible alarms at the fire department’s Jericho Turnpike headquarters and its Denton Avenue firehouse will be sounding for all fire or medical emergency calls between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily through the third week in December.

Over the past decade, horn blasts have been used to alert Garden City Park firefighters in critical emergency situations, according to Robert Mirabile, Garden City Park assistant fire chief.

There had been a moratorium in effect over that time to minimize use of the horns. Both sirens and horn blasts had been used for all calls prior to implementation of that moratorium.

“What we’re doing is testing it to see if it improves our manpower response,” Mirabile said.

Over the past nine months, Mirabile said the Garden City Park department has seen a decreased response rate to fire calls, particularly during daytime hours when many of its 125 members are at work.

The fire department started testing use of the audible alarms for all emergency calls on Nov. 15. Several members said they responded to audible alarms when they didn’t have cell phones or pagers with them, Mirabile said.

There is concern over residents’ reaction to use of the audible alarm system, according to Mirabile, who said that a dozen residents who live near the Denton Avenue firehouse complained about use of the alarm system at the last fire district meeting.

“Most of those residents live in close proximity to that firehouse,” Mirabile said. “Most of the complaints were about excessive noise.”

Several residents are pleased with the use of the fire sirens, according to Mirabile, who said the residents appreciate the forewarning that fire trucks would be coming out of the firehouses to respond to emergencies.

All fire department volunteers have pagers. But problems with what Mirabile described as “dead spots” where the pagers fail to receive signals, or low batteries, have adversely affected their ability to receive messages about fire emergencies. Volunteers can opt to have text messages sent to their cell phones but that method of notification is also inconsistent since there is often a time lapse between the time when a text message is transmitted and the time when it is received by the cell phone user.

At the conclusion of the test period, Mirabile said the Garden City Park Fire Department chiefs will review the response rate results and determine whether to continue use of the sirens for all of its calls.

“Until we complete the test, nothing is written in stone,” Mirabile said.

The chiefs will also consider residents’ concerns about the noise the sirens generate in the residential neighborhood on Denton Avenue. Mirabile said consideration will be given to removing the horn to a location in proximity to the firehouse, which would not have an impact on the residents nearby.

“We are looking at other options. To debate whether they work or whether they’re an annoyance is premature,” Mirabile said.

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