Dispatch Center
The history of the alarm and members alerting system also reflects the department's commitment to give the residents the most modern and best protection a fire department can deliver. It began with a discarded Long Island locomotive rim that was purchased for $15. It was placed in front of a house located on Prospect Avenue on November 24, 1924. The rim was struck with a sledgehammer to alert the firemen who would respond and converge to the point where the smoke was seen. This system was replaced by the telephone and the sounding of the sirens for the firemen to respond to the firehouse where the location of the fire was given. Eventually, fire pull down alarm boxes were replaced with telephone alarm boxes. Since 1951, the department has had its own paid dispatchers and maintenance staff. In 1959, they pioneered with the installation and utilization of a tone activated radio alerting system. It was believed to have been the first of its kind that could select individual companies or the entire membership. Currently every member is issued a pager that is activated when his company is selected. The East Meadow Fire Department's alarm and communications equipment is the most modern available today.
In 1958, they were the first fire department in Nassau County to install a system to refill our air breathing tanks with our own cascade storage system. This was upgraded to a modern system that produces and refills our tanks.
In 1959, they established a Bureau of Fire Prevention that had fire inspections and conducted Fire Prevention Programs. This progressed to the appointment of a paid part time District Chief Fire Inspector. Members of the department present the fire protection programs.
Read more about this topic: East Meadow Fire Department
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