Since the emergence of emergency tele-communications in the early years, the residents of the East Meadow Fire District have had the sanctity of calling the East Meadow Fire Department direct 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Although campaigns to promote our emergency line (516-542-0576) have increased the awareness of our residents, recent statistics continue to show a concern-able figure of fire calls are still routed through the 911 system.

In fact, the majority of all major fires here in East Meadow over the past 2 years have been filtered through the 911 system. Here is what our residents should know.

First and foremost, the 911 system is an outstanding system to get you help wherever you may be. It will get you the Police, an ambulance, the Fire Department, or most any other emergency agency. The system engrains the 3 digit emergency number into all citizens who may otherwise not know who to call for help.

Its simplicity has resulted in the countless saving of lives every day in the United States where a caller knew no other number for help.

But here in the East Meadow Fire District, as well as in many other Long Island Fire Districts, lies a “state of the art” Fire and EMS Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) center with some of the most innovative equipment, and well-trained employees at the ready 24 hours 7 days a week.

From the early days of firefighters answering the ring of a wired phone to the first home alert radios to a series of advances in radio frequency voice pagers, and the future of text services, the emergency communications of the East Meadow Fire District has evolved in both time and technology.

Such a system based in our community can make a difference in the time it takes to alert your East Meadow Firefighters or Medical Technicians. For example, when a call comes in through 911, it is routed through the Nassau County Fire Commission (Firecom) in Westbury.

Upon receipt, the Fire Communications Technician, in turn, contacts the East Meadow Dispatch so the E.M.F.D. can be alerted. The receiver of this emergency call is actually the person you could have called directly if you placed your call directly to the E.M.F.D. Hence, critical time is saved.

Your East Meadow Volunteers boast some of the most respected and consistent response times in the Long Island Fire Service. In most cases, Fire Chiefs are at your door within 3 -5 minutes of your call, quickly followed by the big rigs. Predominantly, when a question is raised of a response time to an emergency, it is later found that the caller did not call the E.M.F.D. directly.

Two of the most common thoughts that come to the mind of our emergency responders are:

• That fires can double in size every 30 to 60 seconds depending on the material burning and the phase of the fire. Thus any time saved no doubt makes a difference during a serious fire. In EMS situations, similar time lost can make the difference when a loved one is taken ill.
• That the actual lapsed time versus the time it feels to have passed. In an anxious situation, seconds can feel like minutes, as witnessed by residents and Fire Chiefs alike who are awaiting the arrival of the members and equipment.

As mentioned above, recently, your East Meadow Fire Department has responded to several serious fires that originated through 911. Again, an outstanding system that got you prompt help. But in a business where time is of the essence, to say the least, we ask our residents that, if you need the East Meadow Fire Department, for a Fire of EMS emergency follow the instructions on your phone sticker. Stickers are distributed annually. If you don’t have stickers write this author at [email protected] and a set will be personally delivered.

Lastly, please remember, should you need the service of the Nassau County Police Department, or prefer their outstanding Emergency Ambulance Service, the 911 system is the number to call.

In years passed, communication experts have stated that the average civilian will make one true emergency phone call in their lifetime. With today’s society of wireless technology, it is likely that this figure has doubled or tripled with cellular phones being the number one source of incoming calls beyond your home or office.