By:JOSEPH KELLARD
One sign captured the ceremony best: "Dear firemen, we are thinking of you all and wish you well." It showed that two years after Sept. 11, the brave, life-saving work firefighters perform is remembered, appreciated and admired -- a job that many people took for granted before the World Trade Center was destroyed along with several local men and women who battled the infernos set by terrorists.
This sign was part of a large "rainbow of hands" poster created by children enrolled in the Summer Playground Program of Oceanside's Department of Community Activities, one among a few posters recognizing the firefighters injured in an Oceanside blaze in June that were presented to Chief John Traverso and Lt. John Madden of the Oceanside Fire Department.
The ceremony, held last Thursday in front of School 5, saw some 200 kids, head counselors and art teachers from the program's sites at Schools 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8 gather around an engine truck from Hose Co. 1 to display their posters for the two firefighters.
Along with School 8's poster of a rainbow formed by multi-colored hands, children created a large American flag whose white stripes were made up of cards with drawings of firefighters extinguishing flames (School 5); a rectangular-shaped red, white and blue banner adorned with stars and stripes (School 6); a seven-foot tall hound wearing a fire helmet and standing before a hydrant (School 4); as well as a fire truck (School 6) and fire house (School 2). Each poster featured the names of its creators, scripted on the colorful hands, stars and hearts that adorned them.
"I think they did a great job," Traverso said while standing before the kids and their posters. "It's excellent to see support from the community. That's what matters."
Twenty-four firefighters were injured while battling an intense fire at Oceanside Institutional Industries at Long Beach Road on June 29. In the midst of extinguishing the blaze, which involved two explosions of acetylene tanks, nine Oceanside firefighters and one from Baldwin were transported to the burn unit at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow with first- and second-degree burns about the face, neck, head, ears, arms and hands. The other 14 firefighters suffered either smoke inhalation or heat exhaustion and were sent to the South Nassau Communities and Long Beach hospitals.
The honorary ceremony originated with Allison Ott, whose children attend the School 5 recreation site. She suggested to the department heads that the kids show their appreciation of the firefighters by creating and sending them get-well and thank-you cards. Receptive to the idea, coordinator Karen Von Braunsberg decided to have the children from each playground site participate by creating posters based on different themes. Both Ott and Von Braunsberg invited Traverso and other firefighters to School 5 to accept the creative works in their honor.
"It's great to see this kind of outpouring from the children in the community," said Madden, who was one of the firefighters hospitalized with burns while fighting the fire in June. "It's good to see that kids appreciate what you're doing and know that you are putting yourself in danger. We're not getting paid for it. Really," he concluded, gesturing toward the kids and their posters, "this is the payment."
During the ceremony, Fred Koller, a director at the Department of Community Activities, reminded the children that the firefighters worked voluntarily, and before the ceremony ended he asked them if they had any questions for Traverso and Madden.
One boy stood up and simply said, "You guys are the best."
