Montauk Fire Department Corner: October 2024

Good day, and welcome to this month’s edition of Montauk Fire Department Corner. I trust everyone had a nice Labor Day Holiday weekend. I can’t believe that it is already time to welcome a beautiful Montauk Indian Summer.

On Friday, September 20th Members of the Montauk Fire Department along with their family, friends, dignitaries, and brothers and sisters from neighboring Fire Departments gathered at Gosman’s Restaurant for our Department’s annual Inspection Dinner. It was well attended and, as always, Ex-Chief Robert Gosman and his staff were perfect hosts who went out of their way to treat us to a fine evening of food and dance music.

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of awards to deserving Members of the Department. Alan Burke received his “50 years of service” pin. It is significant that someone has served the MFD for fifty years, but, with Alan, it goes much further with his unwavering commitment to the citizens and visitors to Montauk. Just as important is his leadership and training skills with our new EMT’s, a primary reason we have the elite reputation in the community and with other fire departments across the region. Congratulations, Alan, and thank you for everything you do! As a special surprise for Alan that evening, Suffolk County Legislator Ann Welker presented Alan Burke with a proclamation thanking him for his service. Other awards given out at our annual dinner were:

FIREFIGHTER OF THE YEAR – JOE MCDONALD

EMT OF THE YEAR – AGGIE CINDRICH

CHIEFS AWARD – DENNIS O’REILLY

COMPANY OF THE YEAR – AMBULANCE COMPANY NO.4

Congratulations to all on behalf of the Chiefs, men and women of the Montauk Fire Department. Thank you for all that you do.

On Sunday, September 15th we held our 41st annual BIG BUCKS raffle at the Montauk Fire House.  It was a beautiful day with plenty of good food, and live music provided by Nancy Atlas and her band. It’s significant to note two things about BIG BUCKS. The first is that proceeds from the raffle support the Department’s scholarship fund, which awards four deserving Montauk students $3,000.00 per year towards their higher education, and that we have surpassed the $6,000,000,000.00 in prizes awarded to lucky winners since 1983.

I’d like to give a special thanks to Fire Fighter Rick White and his committee, and Ed Eurell and his committee for continuing to make this event our biggest annual fundraising event. The top four winners this year are:

$10,000.00 – Virginia and Peter DiGirolamo

$20,000.00 – Brent and Lisa Becker

$30,000.00 – Suzanne Dickinson

$50,000.00 – Larry Cole

Good luck to all the winners and thank you for supporting the Montauk Fire Department.

That’s it for this month’s edition of Montauk Fire Department Corner. Enjoy the beautiful Montauk autumn weather, and stay safe.

~ Ken Glogg, Chief, Montauk Fire Department

https://www.montaukfiredistrict.org/