Oceanside Fire Department hosts Nassau County Firefighters Association Parade

For members of the Oceanside Fire Department, the Nassau County Firefighters Association Parade was about much more than fire trucks rolling down Long Beach Road.

It was about community.

Hosted by the Oceanside Fire Department on Saturday, the parade brought 25 fire departments from throughout Nassau County to Oceanside as part of a celebration honoring the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The day featured food vendors, children’s activities, community groups, a concert and fireworks. But at its heart was a celebration of Nassau County’s volunteer fire service and the residents who support it.

“It’s a parade for all of Nassau County,” Oceanside Fire Department Chief Kevin Klein said.

The parade featured a color guard carrying 70 American flags, representing the fire departments throughout Nassau County. Community organizations, including the Oceanside Little League and Oceanside Library, also joined firefighters in the celebration.

For Klein, having community members participate alongside firefighters was an important part of what made the event special.

Outside of responding to emergency calls, the department has continued to remain involved in Oceanside events, taking part in activities with the local schools, supporting local sports teams, attending homecoming celebrations and helping with community service projects.

“We feel very strongly that if we can interact and meet our community members in a more relaxed, friendly scenario, thatthey may recognize faces,” Klein said.

That familiarity can be especially meaningful if firefighters eventually find themselves responding to residents’ homes during emergencies.

“They may know who’s coming to their house when there’s an emergency, and obviously that makes things a lot easier for both sides,” Klein said.

The department’s community involvement also helps introduce younger residents to the possibility of joining the department later on as volunteer firefighters. Klein said children who grow up seeing firefighters at school events, football games, car washes and community celebrations may eventually consider becoming volunteers themselves when they are old enough.

“They may say, ‘Oh, you know, these are good people. We want to be part of this,’” Klein said.

That message of volunteerism was particularly important to former Oceanside Fire Department Chief and parade committee Chairman Pat Madden.

Madden, who joined the department in the early 1990s, recalled the excitement surrounding fire department parades when he was younger. He said he was immediately drawn to marching in uniform while crowds gathered along the streets to cheer.

“I was hooked after the first parade,” Madden said. “You felt, you know, you’re dressed in your blue and everybody’s cheering you.”

Decades later, Madden and Klein said the tradition of fire department parades has become less common as volunteer departments face the realities of modern life.

“Unfortunately, like a lot of other things as far as volunteering, the parades are kind of dying off,” Klein said.

For Madden, that made Oceanside’s celebration even more meaningful.

The members of the department are the same people residents see around town every day — neighbors, parents, friends and co-workers who give their time to help others.

“We are strictly volunteer,” Madden said. “We miss dinners, we miss engagements sometimes, miss sleep, to put our community first.”

Organizing an event of this size also required a significant volunteer effort. Madden said planning began more than a year ago and involved coordinating with participating fire departments, town officials, vendors and community groups.

Firefighters handled much of the behind-the-scenes work, from preparing the parade route to setting up and cleaning up after the celebration.

The event also gave firefighters from different departments an opportunity to reconnect. Many of the departments regularly work together during emergencies, assisting one another through mutual aid and providing standby coverage for events.

Klein said that camaraderie is an important part of the volunteer fire service.

“Just to get together with some of the other departments is just a great event, especially outside of an emergency,” he said.

The parade also highlighted the relationship between firefighters and law enforcement officers. Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder served as the parade’s honorary grand marshal, representing police officers throughout the county.

Klein said the Oceanside Fire Department and Nassau County Police Department’s Fourth Precinct have a strong working relationship and frequently respond to the same incidents.

“We thought that by asking Commissioner Ryder to be part of it, he symbolizes obviously all of the police officers in Nassau County,” Klein said.

As the parade wound through Oceanside, residents had the chance to cheer on firefighters from their own community as well as departments from across the county, serving as a reminder that behind every uniform is a volunteer who chose to give back.

And for Klein, that connection is something worth continuing to build upon.

“Being part of the community isn’t just an emergency,” he said. “We want people to realize that we want to be part of things.”