Summer is over. Vacations have ended. Kids go back to school and the Mineola Fire Department continued to steadfastly respond to their neighbor's calls for assistance. During the month of September, the Mineola Fire Department responded to 28 alarms. Once again, automatic fire alarms accounted for the majority of the fire department's responses. On 15 occasions, the Mineola Fire Department responded to automatic fire alarms reporting smoke or fire conditions. Luckily, none of these turned out to be anything serious.

There are many reasons that these alarms sound and the fire department considers all these false alarms to be "good intent" calls. Some of the reasons are easily explained. A toaster positioned directly under a smoke detector activated when some toast was burnt. In that case, the device functioned properly and summoned the fire department when smoke was detected. It may be a little embarrassing to have the entire fire department show up at your door for some burnt toast but again there was a good intent and nothing malicious about the reported alarm.

Many other reasons for false alarms can be attributed to poor maintenance of the alarm system including faulty batteries, excess dust or other system faults. All of these alarms are treated with full response because, until a fire department unit gets there, we can never be sure if it is an actual fire or just a malfunction.

Burning wires as a result of our blustery September weather called the Mineola Fire Department out seven times during the month. Temporary power outages to a few residences resulted in these calls and the area was made safe and the Long Island Power Authority was notified to respond. The remaining alarms for the month consisted of one each for a burning odor in the area of Hillside Avenue and Rex Court, which was unfounded, a reported house fire, an electrical fire, a natural gas leak, a reported building fire and a vehicle fire with no injuries sustained.

The Mineola Fire Department proudly participated in the Village of Mineola September 11 Memorial Service. This was a wonderful memorial service put on by Mayor Martins, the village board of trustees and all our elected officials. The Mineola Fire Department was proud to have our chief of department, Scott P. Strauss, chosen to lay the wreath with Governor Pataki in memory of the police, fire and emergency medical service that made the supreme sacrifice and gave their lives during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. All the members of the Mineola Fire Department exhibited pride when junior firefighter Padraic Phelan led the assembly in a chorus of God Bless America. It was a very beautiful and fitting tribute from this fine young man.

The men and women of the Mineola Fire Department are preparing in the coming weeks to tackle the challenges of live fire training at the Nassau County Fire Service Academy in Old Bethpage. The members of the department will be traveling out there for three nights of training in their buildings, experiencing live fire conditions. The department always looks forward to participating in this very valuable training to hone their skills in rescue and fire suppression and to keep them on the cutting edge in their provision of emergency services to the Village of Mineola and its residents.

Does a hero lie in you? You supply the motivation and we'll supply the challenges. Become a member of the Mineola Fire Department by calling the chief's office at 747-5860, stopping by either firehouse on any Sunday morning or Monday night or look us up on the web at www.mineolafd.com.