Speaker Heastie tours O’side Fire Department

The Oceanside Fire Department showed off its high-tech command room on Foxhurst Road to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie on Sept. 1.

The Dispatching Office and Command Center, which opened last winter, was planned before Hurricane Sandy struck. It cost $420,000 to build, according to Fire District Treasurer Kevin Grasing. That money came from the fire department budget, and $30,000 is left over to purchase new equipment.

Unlike the previous alarm room, it can fit additional dispatchers from neighboring areas, such as Long Beach and Cedarhurst, in an emergency. It has cameras of the other firehouses, and weather tracking. The conference room can also be set up as a phone bank.

OFD spokesman Ed Scharfberg said that the fire department and the Oceanside school district could monitor each other in case of emergencies such as hurricanes. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the fire department took over much of emergency operations. “During the Sandy event, the Oceanside Community Service, along with the school district, fed approximately 10,000 residents,” Scharfberg said. “We had a warming center at [Oceanside] High School — people could come and charge their phones because there was no power here for approximately 20 days.”

Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky invited Heastie, who replaced Assemblyman Sheldon Silver earlier this year. The Oceanside Fire Department was one of several stops that showed the situation on the South Shore post Sandy. Other stops included abandoned houses in Bay Park and the Long Beach Emergency Department. Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford also came on the tour.

Kaminsky said he wanted Heastie to see the remaining problems and progress first-hand, so he could remind the Speaker of what they saw when they need to pass legislation.

“Well sometimes out of natural disasters a better way to do things … are born out of these unfortunate tragedies,” Heastie said of the command center. “So it appears that that’s what happened here, is the more coordinated effort, new technology, new equipment, to try to better prepare for hopefully something that never comes again. Which is another devastating storm.”

Heastie also noted differences between fire departments on Long Island and the Bronx, which he represents. Oceanside is an all-volunteer force, unlike the vast majority of New York City firefighters, who are paid.

The Fire Department also invites the public to visit the Dispatching Office and Command Center, which is open to the public Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.