Fun and fire safety coming to Woodmere

Woodmere Fire Department volunteers will be opening their home on Sunday, Oct. 13, for a day of fun, fire education and recruitment.

Darren Moritz, a volunteer fire fighter, noted the importance of learning fire safety, He recounted two incidents in Woodmere when children put a pizza box in the family’s stove to heat up the pizza inside.

“There was a fire in the oven,” he recalled. “A fire extinguisher puts it right out — but it destroys the oven.” Fire fighters will demonstrate how to put out a fire using both water and fire extinguishers.

The Woodmere event will run from noon to 5 p.m. at the Woodmere Fire House, 20 Irving Place, and include fire truck rides, kosher food, live demonstrations and prizes.

A fire prevention company will present a “live burn,” with emergency responders demonstrating how they get out of a house, “climbing down the walls with a rope while wearing the full 75 pounds of equipment.” Emergency medical technicians will stage a fake accident with a fake victim and ambulance to show “how they take someone out of a car accident.”

Overall, the goal of this showcase is to “show how we do our job to help people and how to prevent fires,” said Moritz, who also hopes to recruit more volunteers.

“We want EMTs and firefighters; we are looking for both,” he said. Mostly, though, it’s for the children, who learn to be aware of fire safety. “We will show what we do and how we do it. They can come and go at any time and it’s free.” He noted that the volunteers also stage demonstrations at schools.

Woodmere FD currently has 25 to 30 active members and more who are “inactive,” ranging in age from 18 to 60, including many from the Orthodox community.

After someone volunteers and they are voted in as a probationary officer, they receive complete training to be a firefighter or an EMT over the course of a year — training that, Moritz said, is very intense. They learn to use the equipment and to climb in and out of windows and up and down ladders, all while wearing 75 pounds of equipment.

Moritz, who moved to the Five Towns almost three years ago, works at Wells Fargo in Hewlett selling mortgages. “One of the members (of the fire department) came to get a mortgage. There was a robbery next door and we were stuck in the bank so we started talking (about volunteering). I decided to do it.”

Moritz stressed the importance of volunteer firefighting.

“They are giving their time and energy back to the community. You feel nachas; it feels good, important. We get a call 2 or 3 a.m., we take the call. We’re there 24 hours a day seven days a week; we put the community first.” When you rescue someone from a fire, he added, “you feel like you are Superman.”

“After (Hurricane) Sandy, we were out there — you stayed and helped people who needed to be helped. We rescued over 300 people out of their homes, on Saddle Ridge, Church Avenue.

“We put other’s lives ahead of ours. We worked through the night and went back to be sure everyone was OK, making sure people were alive, did house checks. We were on our boats, on foot, we walked miles at time to get people out. While some of our own family members’ homes were destroyed, we pushed forward to help others and then went back to our own homes.”

The Woodmere fire prevention day welcomes adults and children of all ages.

“They’ll enjoy it and learn a lot,” said Moritz. “It’s educational, fun, a great learning experience. It’s very good for the parents, too. They’ll learn together.”

For more information on fire prevention day, call (516) 821-3600. For information on joining as a volunteer, call (516) 821-3606.