Chometz burning with Woodmere F.D.

Hours before Passover began, Woodmere volunteer firefighters were making sure everyone burning chometz was safe on April 22.

From 7 to 11 a.m. local community members stopped by the firehouse at 20 Irving Place and in the parking lot to burned any chometz or leavened products made from barely, oat, rye, spelt or wheat. It’s tradition that chometz is burned or sold to non-Jews within the first hours of Passover and only kosher products are consumed throughout the eight-day holiday.

Town of Hempstead Supervisor, Don Clavin, Councilwoman Melissa Miller, Town Clerk Kate Murray and Receiver of Taxes Jeanine Driscoll were in attendance.

“Who better to burn things than your local fire department,’ Miller said. “We’re very happy that they’ve been willing to partner with us. It encourages people to come here to burn their chometz rather than try to do it at home. It’s controlled here, it’s safe even in previous years where there have been crazy winds.”

Murray found the event to be especially important this year.

“I’ve been coming for years and now more than ever with what’s going on in the Middle East, what’s going on locally at Columbia University, which is absolutely awful, I feel that it is more incumbent than ever, for me as a non-Jew to support my Jewish neighbors,” Murray said.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and County Legislature Presiding Officer Howard Kopel stopped by the firehouse.

“I don’t come to take pictures, I’ve been doing this every year since I was a little kid,” Kopel said. “This community has evolved enormously since I moved in 37 years ago. It didn’t have this back then, we had to do it in our back yards.”

Junior fire department members regulated the chometz burning with the help of regular members.

“I like just giving back to the community,” Julian Schneider, a junior member said. “It’s all volunteer here, no one gets paid, just making sure no one gets hurt. When you don’t have it regulated, it’s dangerous.”

David Haller, the Woodmere Fire District secretary, said the Town of Hempstead provided a dumpster for the event and George Pappas, Sanitary District 1’s superintendent, sent a truck for debris.

Passover this year was from sundown on April 22 to April 30