Inwood Fire Department celebrates 125 years

Serving the community, enjoying the camaraderie of teamwork and honoring traditions and family legacies have been the hallmarks of the Inwood Fire Department, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.

A century and a quarter of voluntary service was marked with a parade on Aug. 4 that stepped off at Inwood Park, on Bayview Avenue, and ended at the firehouse, on Doughty Boulevard, where members and residents celebrated with a block party.

The parade’s grand marshal was ex-chief and 55-year department member James Levy. Third Battalion units from the Inwood, Hewlett, Lawrence-Cedarhurst, Meadowmere, Woodmere and Valley Stream fire departments marched in the parade. (Nassau County fire departments are divided into nine battalions.)

Luke Magliaro Jr., the Inwood department’s chaplain, comes from a firefighting family that includes his father, Luke, an ex-captain, and his brothers, Richard, the department’s current chief, and Mark, another ex-captain and an honorary firefighter. “It’s always been in our blood to be here,” said Luke Jr. “The training is strenuous, but it’s rewarding. You feel like you’re doing something for your community.”

The department’s long story began on Jan. 19, 1887, when a few men living in what was then called Westville met at a cottage on Lord Avenue, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Edward Rhinehart, to organize a fire company for the community, according to a history of the department collected by Edward Archibald and edited by 21-year member Frank Parise.

At that meeting, the men created the Electric Hook and Ladder Company. A year later, the community became known as Inwood.

As its population grew, some younger members of the Electric Hook and Ladder Company formed another company. On March 24, 1902, they established the Citizen Hose and Engine Company.

Working as partners, the two companies created an elected position of fire commander in 1903. Seven years later, they joined forces and were chartered as the Inwood Fire Department.

The Inwood Fire District was formed in 1926. It purchased property on the northeast corner of Wanser Avenue and Doughty Boulevard and built a headquarters, which was completed in 1928. The building was enlarged in 1952 and, 32 years later, an annex was constructed.

“I am overwhelmed by the history,” Parise said of the department. “It’s very traditional.”

Parise, 65, a lifelong Inwood resident who served as a fire district commissioner before becoming an active firefighter, added to the department’s history by becoming a probationary firefighter after age 40. (A fire district is governed by elected commissioners that levy taxes; a fire department is overseen by chiefs.)

“I was asked to run for commissioner as I had a business background as a retail manager,” he said. “I thought it was a wonderful place to make friends, and I decided to join a few months later, at 44. I was trying to keep up with 18- and 19-year-olds. It was a lot of fun.”

George Miller, 71, joined the Fire Department at age 26, made his way up the ranks and is now an ex-chief as well as the chair of the fire commissioners board. He said he is proud not only to perform a civic duty, but of having creating a family firefighting legacy. His son George Jr. is an Inwood firefighter. Another son, Kenneth, now a Hewlett resident, earned the title honorary firefighter for his service in Inwood, and a third son, John, an ex-captain and also an Inwood honorary firefighter, is now a member of the Merrick F.D.

“Camaraderie and the need for the service to be performed in the community,” George Sr. said in explaining why he became a volunteer firefighter. “You take an oath, and live up to that oath.”