By:Cindy J. Roth
A North Bellmore fire truck was struck Aug. 4 while rushing to a fire. An SUV plowed into the truck's side at Merrick Avenue and North Jerusalem Road, injuring five firefighters and one civilian.
The recent crash has added fuel to a battle by Bellmore, North Bellmore, Merrick, North Merrick, Wantagh, Seaford, Levittown and Massapequa firefighters to install traffic pre-empters on county roads. Now, traffic pre-empters are found only on state roads. The devices give fire engines the ability to change or extend traffic signals to green lights in the direction their vehicles are traveling.
"Sometimes people are driving with the air-conditioning and stereo on and are looking at the road, but not hearing anything and wind up having an unfortunate accident," said North Bellmore Fire Chief Mark Deluca. Pre-empters are "an added safety device."
Fire officials say the departments would pay for the pre-empters through their own funds and state grants. Firefighters, however, face a road block.
To mount pre-empters on county roads, fire departments need permission of the county Department of Public Works. Public Works has repeatedly said no, despite three years of lobbying by area fire departments. DPW officials contend that the system would hinder traffic flow during peak travel times and that fire volunteers would abuse it.
County Legis. David Denenberg (D-Merrick), who has worked with the fire departments to bring attention to the issue, finds it hard to believe that the county would trust firefighters to protect people's homes and lives, but not to use the pre-empters responsibly.
Deluca said, "The commissioner [of public works] has a lot of gall to say firefighters will abuse the system."
A recent news conference convened by Denenberg and representatives from the eight Nassau County fire districts appears to have put dent in the DPW's stance against pre-empters.
"I am confident the volunteer firefighters are responsible and will not abuse the system," said Joseph Pecora, DPW commissioner, last week. "We have reached out to other municipalities to determine what their research has revealed with regard to implementation on non-state roadways. That review should be completed shortly."
Deluca said that, despite the commissioner's remarks, he did not believe there would be progress.
If pre-empters are approved for county roads, new transmitter boxes and optical signal processors would need to be installed, costing $1,880 per four-way intersection, according to John Fabian, Merrick fire chief. Despite the expense, fire officials see the devices paying for themselves in lives and injuries saved. According to the National Fire Protection Association, 40 percent of firefighter deaths occur each year en route to a fire.
"State lights [with pre-empters] are working with a great deal of success," Deluca said. "There has already been an accident where five firefighters and one civilian were sent to the hospital. What other proof do they [the county DPW] need?"
The state Department of Transportation does not install nor maintain pre-empters on state roads, according to Patrica Audinot, assistant to the regional director for the DOT. The department issues highway work permits for pre-empters to be installed at designated traffic signals, and then the companies that mount the pre-empters become responsible for them, Audinot said. The state DOT keeps no records of system abuses, accidents or lives or injuries saved.
