For Robert Von Werne, the most demanding part of his year as chief of the New Hyde Park Fire Department department was overseeing the firefighters when Hurricane Sandy struck.
Von Werne said he was on call around the clock during the storm, balancing his responsibilities in New Hyde Park with his full-time job as a detective in the emergency services unit of the New York Police Department in Queens.
“It was definitely a challenge because I was doing similar work in the city,” Von Werne said. He has served in the New York City Police Department for the past 16 years
Von Werne, who has been a member of the New Hyde Park Fire Department since 1991, will step down from his post as chief at the end of this month.
During his time as fire chief, the department responded to more than 1,100 alarms including two fires – at 249 Jericho Turnpike on June 6 and at 1217 Jericho Turnpike on Nov. 1.
But the days during and after Hurricane Sandy were unquestionably the department’s most intense period of activity during his year in charge, Von Werne said.
The New Hyde Park firefighters responded to more than 130 alarms, mostly about downed power lines, during a 26-hour period starting the day the hurricane struck. There were no major incidents, he said, although a surge in ambulance calls after the storm did involve a few medical emergencies.
Von Werne enlisted two of the New Hyde Park Fire Department ex-chiefs, John Taniello and Tom Carbain, as temporary command staff to fill in for chiefs whose full-time job responsibilities prevented them from being at headquarters at times during the storm and its aftermath. He commended both men for helping out and praised all the members of his department for their performance during the storm.
“We had plenty of manpower,” Von Werne said. “The department performed very well during the storm and it made me very proud.”
The New Hyde Park volunteers’ service during the storm extended to the South Shore.
The New Hyde Park Fire Department dispatched a rescue crew to conduct house searches in Island Park during the storm. After the storm, an engine company was dispatched to the Point Lookout Fire Department to assist that department in decontaminating its firefighting vehicles after the storm. An engine crew from New Hyde Park also stood by to assist the Long Beach Fire Department in the storm’s aftermath.
“We lent a hand where we could,” Von Werne said.
Apart from the emergency procedures he implemented during the hurricane, Von Werne also established a change in the department’s minimum staffing requirement. He said the change calls for the presence of enough volunteers at the fire department headquarters on Jericho Turnpike to respond to calls rather than calling out to volunteers.
“It keeps things more organized and requires a new level of responsibility. It’s a safety improvement and an incident command improvement,” he said.
During his year in command, Von Werne also instituted Web-based training of department members to participate in state-mandated programs such as sexual harassment in the workplace.
Near the end of his term, a new rescue truck was ordered for delivery early next year to replace a rescue vehicle that has been in service for 25 years.
Next month, Von Werne will be succeeded as chief of the department by assistant Chief Brian Sherwood.
