Burning their chometz safely

Residents flocked to the Woodmere firehouse as the department held its annual community-wide chometz burning on Monday. “It’s a community service and is done for safety purposes,” Woodmere Fire Chief Lenny Cherson said. “It gives a central location for the community to burn its chometz in a safe manner,” he added.

During Passover, Jewish people commemorate their exodus from Egypt and refrain from eating leavened foods, called chometz.

Four trash cans, as well as a large dumpster, were set up for residents to burn their chometz. The chometz ash in the trash cans was placed in the dumpster as Woodmere’s firefighters manned the burning to maintain everyone’s safety.

“It’s safer for people to come here rather than to risk starting a fire and burning themselves,” firefighter Marc Deutsch said, noting that this is the 10th year the department has hosted the pre-Passover burning for the entire community.

    “It’s great — they’re helping out the Jewish community by burning the chometz in a safe manner,” said Far Rockaway resident Neal Katz.

Sanitary District 1 personnel were also on hand to pick up trash and unburnt chometz.

Town of Hempstead Councilman Anthony Santino praised the volunteer fire department for providing the service to the community. “I think this is an outstanding service and I salute the Woodmere Fire Department for providing this service to the community,” he said. “This is just another way that the Woodmere Fire Department does an extraordinary job on behalf of our community.”