If taking command of the New Hyde Park Fire Department had a familiar feeling for Brian Sherwood, there was a good reason.
Sherwood, who succeeded Robert Von Werne in the job this week, also held the post in 2008.
“I’ve gained a lot more experience being on the chiefs’ staff,” Sherwood said of his working as an assistant chief since 2008. “It’s quite an honor to be chief a second time.”
Sherwood has spent nine of his 21 years as New Hyde Park Fire Department volunteers as one of the assistant chiefs or in the top job.
And while he has the advantage of knowing what needs to be done, he said you can never be certain of what will be required in any situation.
“You never know what to expect. You have to be prepared for the unexpected,” Sherwood said.
Hurricane Sandy was a prime example of that, he said, when New Hyde Park’s firefighters responded to more than 130 alarms in a 26-hour period.
Sherwood wasn’t on any of those calls because he was on a cruise when the hurricane struck – maintaining a record that his fellow firefighters kid him about.
“Every time I go away, something happens,” he said, smiling.
While there’s no telling what emergencies the department may face during his current term as chief this year, he said he’s intent on making sure that all members are as prepared as they can be.
His primary objective, he said, is “to progress further training” with the latest fire-fighting techniques.
An initiative has already been underway to establish a space for training at the department’s Jericho Turnpike headquarters.
Sherwood wants his fellow firefighters to be ready for anything, particularly in the wake of a recent incident in which two firefighters were shot while responding to a fire call in Webster, N.Y.
“This Webster incident opened a lot of eyes,” Sherwood said.
Along with training, Sherwood’s top priority is recruitment and retention of new volunteers. The New Hyde Park Fire Department is one of 13 fire departments in Nassau County that recently won a $500,600 federal grant to support recruitment and retention efforts and now has two members assigned to recruiting new members.
“We don’t have people standing at the door to volunteer,” he said. “Now with the economy the way it is, people are working two or three jobs. They can’t afford to volunteer. The economy has hurt volunteerism.”
The difficulty of finding new volunteers and keeping them active is only one of the things that have changed in the time that Sherwood has been involved with the fire service.
“When I started, I was wearing full hip boots and a coat” he said.
That’s far removed from the fireproof suits and oxygen tanks today’s volunteers use.
Prior to his service in New Hyde Park, Sherwood first served as a volunteer in the Jamaica Estates-Holliswood-Bayside Ambulance Corps beginning in 1980.
Sherwood has been an emergency medical technician since then and said he doesn’t know how many emergency ambulance and fire calls he’s been on over the years. On his day job, he is a New York State representative for the Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, handling patient care complaints and reviewing prospective emergency medical technicians on their fitness for duty.
He can’t estimate the number of life-saving rescue calls he’s participated in either, but he said those calls have been the most satisfying part of his years as a volunteer.
“You have somebody in cardiac arrest and you put them on a defibrillator and bring them back, it’s a great feeling,” Sherwood said.
He’s witnessed changes in life-saving technologies too, with contemporary defibrillators that can be used on adults or children.
Sherwood has one major equipment upgrade in mind for the New Hyde Park department.
He’s hoping the district’s fire commissioners can secure new portable radios that will enable more distinct voice communications with greater transmission range.
