Lakeview elects Nassau County’s first female fire chief

Heather Senti, a lifelong West Hempstead resident and eight-year firefighter for the Lakeview Volunteer Fire Department, has become Nassau County’s first female fire chief.

Senti, who is 27, was elected to the top spot by an overwhelming majority of members of the Lakeview Volunteer Fire Department on April 5. She moves up from assistant fire chief, which she became last April, and she replaces Michael Koppel as chief.

“Out of 43 eligible voters, I received 40 [votes],” Senti told the Herald last week. “It’s an accomplishment personally, but more so, it’s following in the tradition my family has established.”

Senti explained that her grandfather, Fredrick Senti Sr., was an active member of the Lakeview department for more than 50 years — and its chief — before he died in May 2000. He inspired Heather’s father, Fredrick Jr., to join the department at age 18. Fred Jr. also became chief.

Heather said she realized when the results were announced on April 5 that her election came exactly 50 years after the same election for her grandfather and 30 years after her father was elected chief.

“I was a bit shocked that I had received that many votes,” she said, adding it was an emotional moment for her. “It was reassuring that the work, and the values and abilities I have, were being noticed. Sometimes I still get phone calls from people saying, ‘I heard about it.’ It’s nice.”

Heather, who earned a degree in communications from Adelphi University in 2006 and is currently working on a master’s in emergency management there, has worked for Nassau County’s Office of Emergency Management since April 2010.

Growing up in a family of firefighters, she said, she knew she wanted to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather and father. Heather and her brother, Fredrick III — the Lakeview Department’s fire captain — often play together as children, pretending to be firefighters.

“Growing up, we were always around it — we used to pretend we were going to calls,” she said. “One of the jobs was, who would be chief?”