Reporter Editorial: The fire next time
Flames leaping — some as high as 80 feet, according to Fire Chief Will Anderson — at the Recycling Center September 20 when construction debris caught fire.
The Shelter Island Fire Department responded with full force to reports of an emergency at the Recycling Center Saturday evening, September 20.
From the first alarm, manpower and machinery were rapidly mobilized. Working as a team under steady leadership, firefighters fought a blaze springing from a construction debris pile and stoked by high winds.
Fire Chief Will Anderson said it was the largest fire of its kind he’d ever seen, with flames soaring to the height of an eight-story building.
As the department was beginning to knock down the blaze, the fire got a second chance at life, leaving the first responders with an enormous problem. The firefighters had run out of water.
While Shelter Island’s bravest had to stand and watch the fire, water was brought from Daniel Lord Road, and the fire was finally extinguished. Fire Commissioner Larry Lechmaniski said it was just a matter of luck that nothing more than debris burned that Saturday night.
He wasn’t the only one concerned that the fire could have spread to Hampshire Farms and other properties.
Days after the near miss, Chairman of the Fire District Board of Commissioners Keith Clark sent a letter to the Town Board about the need for a well pump capable of producing 500 gallons of water a minute and a 12,000-gallon tank to be installed at the Recycling Center.
Two facts should be considered in the aftermath of the fire and the commissioners’ requests. First, Saturday night wasn’t the first time there has been a fire at the Recycling Center, according to Commissioner Lechmanski. If it’s happened before, it will happen again. And second, according to the U.S. Fire Administration, there are fires at 8,300 dumps and recycling centers each year.
This month, a series of budget meetings will be held at Town Hall. The requests from the fire commissioners will cost money. In all budget negotiations, reasonable people strive not to be penny wise, while extreme budget hawks can often be pound foolish. When it comes to pubic safety, though, to scrimp is much more than foolish — it’s blind and irresponsible.
We hope the Town Board listens carefully to the request from the commissioners and acts accordingly. The damage done this time was debris. The fire next time could be a catastrophe.
