Building Boom On Long Island

Newsday reports on the special power of firefighters on Long Island:

For more than 15 years -- in Jericho, Hicksville, Coram, Miller Place and dozens of communities in between -- a building boom has swept Long Island fire agencies. Whether in good economic times or bad, the supersizing of Long Island firehouses has continued unabated.

Since 1995, new headquarters have been built in at least 10 Long Island communities. Fire headquarters have undergone dramatic expansions in at least 40 other places, frequently doubling the size of the buildings.

Medford replaced its 8,000-square-foot headquarters with one that has more than 30,000 square feet; North Patchogue traded up from 9,000 to more than 26,000; and Garden City Park is now replacing its 6,500-square-foot main firehouse with one that measures 24,500.

At least a dozen new substations and 15 buildings for administration, training, dispatch and other functions have been built. Another 18 substation expansions are under way or recently completed, and dozens of other building projects are in the planning stages.

There are now 386 fire stations and 104 other fire-related buildings on Long Island.

And the cost of projects is rising quickly.

The $3.8 million borrowed by the Greenlawn Fire District in 1994 to rebuild its headquarters was then the largest bond floated by any fire district in the state. Thursday, Setauket fire officials are asking voters to support a $17.5 million bond issue to replace their 14,436-square-foot headquarters with a new one that will be more than twice as big at 38,000 square feet.

"The general rule of anything in the fire service is that things tend to get bigger over time," said Charles Jennings, a former volunteer firefighter who teaches fire science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "There is some uniqueness to Long Island in terms of the sheer scope and magnitude and size of the facilities. Everything is a little bigger on Long Island."

Newer firehouses often come with hotel-sized kitchens with walk-in refrigerators, gyms, locker rooms and oak-paneled lounges with open-tap bars, big-screen televisions, pool tables, pinball machines and video games.

Some fire officials acknowledge they are using the one resource they have plenty of -- money -- to keep their members happy at the firehouse and to bring in new volunteers.

Maybe everyone can be a firefighter and have fun at work.