Beginning this Saturday and continuing next week, the board of fire commissioners of the Syosset Fire District will be hosting a series of public information sessions to discuss plans to build a fire district annex facility on the grounds of the fire headquarters campus on Cold Spring Road.

It is the goal of the board of fire commissioners to provide residents of the fire district, particularly those living in the vicinity of the headquarters campus, with as much information on the project as possible as it progresses. With that goal in mind, three public information sessions have been scheduled for Saturday, June 9, from 10 a.m. to noon; Monday, June 11, from 7 to 9 p.m.; and Thursday, June 14 from 7 to 9 p.m. All of the sessions will be held at Fire Department Headquarters at 50 Cold Spring Road in Syosset.

Since its formation in 1927, the Syosset Fire District has shared facilities with the men and women of the Syosset Volunteer Fire Department. Over the last 80 years, the responsibilities and day-to-day functions of the Fire District have greatly expanded.

Today, the fire district has its own dispatcher on duty 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year and a full time mechanic on staff to maintain both the fire department's fleet of fire apparatus and the district's group of support vehicles. It also employs a cadre of paramedics who augment the response of our dedicated EMS members 60 hours a week. In total, 38 full and part-time staff work to provide the 140 dedicated volunteer firefighters and emergency medical responders of the fire department with the support services they need to respond to approximately 2,000 calls for assistance annually.

During the board of commissioners' review of the capital needs of both the fire district and the fire department, it became clear that providing the fire district staff with a dedicated facility designed to suit their respective functions would not only increase the efficiency of the district's operations, but also provide a number of benefits to the volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel who respond out of the headquarters facility. As a result, the board has decided to begin the process of building a dedicated Fire District annex facility at the current headquarters campus on Cold Spring Road.

This new facility will be built in the northeast section of the existing parking lot space at headquarters and will sit completely on property currently owned by the fire district. Like the new Station 2 in Woodbury, this facility will be designed to fit in with the architectural character of the community it resides in.

Some of the benefits of this new facility will include:

A new, state-of-the-art dispatch center which will include room for future expansion of the district's communications capacity.

Creating indoor storage for the fleet of fire district support vehicles, which currently sit in the headquarters parking lot exposed to the elements.

Providing an indoor place to work on all department and district vehicles, including large pieces of tilt-cab fire apparatus. (The mechanic's bay in the current Headquarters facility does not allow for this type of work.)

Allowing for the creation within the annex facility of sufficient back-up electrical generation systems to meet the needs of the entire headquarters campus. (The current systems in place do not provide sufficient power for all portions of the headquarters campus and cannot be upgraded any further.)

The consolidation of all fire district functions into a new, dedicated facility, relieving overcrowding in the current headquarters building. This will free up space in headquarters for upgrades, possibly including locker and shower facilities for our volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel. The new annex would also include locker and shower facilities for our district employees.

The estimated cost required to build the new district annex facility will be $5.5 million. Thanks to advanced planning and prudent fiscal management by the board of fire commissioners over the last several years, the funds needed to pay for this project are presently available and earmarked in a special capital account solely for this purpose. No other funding, such as a capital bond issue or a loan, will be required for the completion of this project and there will be no increase in taxes to pay for this project.

It is also important to point out that the construction process is being designed to ensure that the fire department headquarters will remain in service, with its complement of units available to respond to any emergencies in the community throughout the course of the project.

The Syosset Fire District is responsible for overseeing the provision of fire suppression, prevention, and inspection services and emergency medical services in Syosset, Woodbury and portions of several surrounding communities. The district was established on September 7, 1927 by a resolution of the Nassau County Board of Supervisors and held its first meeting on November 11, 1927. The Syosset Fire District's 14.5 square mile response area is the largest in Nassau County and includes a diverse mix of both residential and commercial structures, nineteen school facilities, sixteen houses of worship, four nursing homes and a hospital. Approximately 35,000 people reside in the Syosset Fire District and it is estimated that a third of a million additional people cross through the district each day via the Long Island Expressway, Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway, the Northern State Parkway, Jericho Turnpike and the Long Island Rail Road.