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Fire Eaters of Tomorrow
A History of the Lynbrook Fire
Department's Junior Program
By Ex-Captain
Steve Grogan
The
Lynbrook Fire Department (LFD) has a Junior
Fire Department program that was formed in
1979. For years leading up to the
formation of the program the LFD had been
experiencing a slowdown in volunteer
recruitment and the idea of a junior program
for youngsters was started to help fill the
ranks in the department. The program
is opened to Lynbrook boys and girls between
the ages of 12 through 17. There are
presently 45 youngsters in today’s program.
At age 18 the junior can apply and join one
of the fire companies in the department and
become a volunteer firefighter in the
Village of Lynbrook.
The juniors
don’t fight fires. They learn about
firefighting and help out at fire scenes and
other department functions. The
juniors train and learn about each of the
five fire companies and the Medical Company
so that each junior, a potential future
firefighter, gains a complete picture of how
the LFD operates.
The juniors have
uniforms and march with the department in
all their parades and compete for trophies
against other junior departments. Over
the years they have taken home many winning
trophies. In 2003 the Lynbrook Juniors
were recognized as the first and best junior
department in Nassau County. This is
the second time that they have received this
distinction. They had received it in
2001. The junior members also
participate in the hose event competition
each year during the department’s annual
home tournament in Greis Park.
Since 1979 over
65 juniors have gone on to become Lynbrook
firefighters. The juniors have adopted
the slogan, “Tomorrow’s Firefighters Today.”
One of these former juniors that joined in
that first group of youngsters in 1979 was
Robert Cribbin who at age 18 joined the
department. Cribbin climbed through
the ranks of Tally-Ho Company and later
became Chief of the Lynbrook Fire
Department. Other junior members in
1979 were Carl Lengel, now an Ex-Captain of
Vulcan Company; Gene Cribbin, also an
Ex-Captain of Vulcan Company; and Kevin
Bien, an Ex-Captain of Truck Company.
In addition two other original members, Pat
Hahl and Joe Cipolla, besides also joining
the department went on to become Lynbrook
police officers, as did Ex-Captain Lengel.
The juniors meet
the first Sunday of each month at 10 AM at
Fire Headquarters on Wright Avenue.
Firefighters from each of the six companies
in the department are advisors to the
juniors.
In 1979, myself
and Don Waring, both of Tally-Ho Company and
Len Llewellyn, then a member of Vulcan
Company and now a member of Truck Company,
were the first advisors. If it were
not for the donations of equipment in those
early years of the juniors, along with the
full support of the department as well as
from all of Lynbrook’s fire companies, the
program would not have been successful.
During their
training of the juniors the advisors from
the six companies continue to stress that
school, church and family come first.
The service these juniors perform help them
satisfy their community service requirements
for Confirmation and school graduation.
The 1979 junior
program was not however the first time that
the LFD had a junior program. The
first juniors were formed by Rescue, Hook,
Ladder and Bucket Company, No. 1 (Truck
Company), which was Lynbrook’s first fire
company.
According to the
stories I have read, Truck Company, which
was formed in 1879, received their first
motorized ladder truck in 1917. The
company decided for this new truck that “a
mascot would be appropriate, so a proud
mother, a wife of one of the members made an
attractive suit for her five year old son,
who was officially acclaimed
Mascot……..Several years later as this boy
outgrew this uniform it was passed on to
another boy in town. Other mothers
were given no rest until they got permission
to make duplicates of this mascot uniform
and allow their boys to parade with the
firemen.”
This was the
forming in 1920 of the first junior program
in Lynbrook. They were called the
“Rescue Juniors.” The junior
membership, which at that time was open only
to boys seven to thirteen years of age,
quickly grew to over sixty members in the
mid 1920’s. The juniors were “all
uniformed with maltese badges, flags,
banners, fife and drum, bugler, and
trumpets.” They even had their own
piece of apparatus, Truck Company’s old hand
drawn “Jumper” fire wagon.
In those days
the juniors were referred to as, “Fire
Eaters of Tomorrow.”
In an undated report, but believed to be in
the late 1920’s, to the Lynbrook Fire
Department, prepared by junior organizer
Fred Riefler of Truck Company, Reifler
wrote:
“These boys travel at the expense
of the Lynbrook Department to every parade,
tournament, or any public appearance,
competing against other junior
organizations, winning many beautiful silver
loving cups."
Reifler further wrote, “It is the duty of
these boys….to report any fire hazard they
may see during the day. On various
occasions they burned off brushwood and
weeds from vacant lots, where a brush fire
might endanger other nearby property as well
as saving the firemen from being called
unexpectedly from their work or at night
while asleep to answer the call of fire
caused by the carelessness of some
passerby.”
I have also been able to verify that besides
the Rescue Juniors, both Hose Company and
later Tally-Ho Company also formed their own
juniors program. Although the record
is not clear the junior programs were active
in the Lynbrook Fire Department until the
late 1930’s. It appears they were all
disbanded before the start of World War II.
Over 40 years after the first junior
programs ended, the Lynbrook Junior Fire
Department was formed in 1979 on a
department wide basis under the leadership
of then Chief Robert Forte, a member of
Truck Company, the company that formed the
first junior program in 1920. In 2004,
the Lynbrook Junior Fire Department will
celebrate its 25th Anniversary.
The juniors are planning a celebration of
this milestone and all of those firefighters
who went through the program will be invited
to the celebration.
From “Fire Eaters of Tomorrow” to
“Tomorrow’s Firefighters Today,”
Congratulations.
More Clippings and Photos
1981
1983
1984
In the
photos above and below, dated September
1984, Tally-Ho Ex-Captain Dan Barra
takes the Juniors through a hose drill.
Can you spot Engine Company's Ed Hynes?
In 1992, CNBC
produced a TV news story on the lack of
volunteers in the volunteer fire service
across the United States. The story however
gave no remidy on solving the problem of the
volunteer shortage. After CNBC learned about
the efforts of the Lynbrook Fire Department
to combat that same issue with the forming
of a Junior Fire Department program, CNBC
came to Lynbrook and did a story on our
Juniors' program. That Lynbrook Junior Fire
Department story ran on CNBC on May 12,
1992. Fire footage used during the program
were filmed and provided to CNBC by Steve
Grogan.
Chief John
Matzen congratulates Captain Lindsey
Gulliksen and 2nd Lt. sean donald for
their first place trophy for best appearing
junior fire department in the Nassau County
Volunteer Fire Department Parade this past
summer.
On November 1, 2003, the members of the
Lynbrook Junior Fire Department were honored
at the Nassau County Drill Team Captains
Association Dinner held in Lindenhurst for
being the Best Appearing Junior Fire
Department in Nassau County in 2003.
 
LFD Juniors
pose in front of Engine 1 Quarters after a
training session.
The Lynbrook
Jr. Firefighters undergo a training exercise
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First Place 2005
Nassau County Parade Championship |
Story and
Photos by Steve Grogan
At
the December 5, 2005,
Lynbrook Village Board
Meeting, the mayor and
village board presented
the Lynbrook Junior Fire
Department with a
Proclamation honoring
the Juniors for taking
first place in Nassau
County for 2005.
This is the third time
in the last four years
that the Lynbrook
Juniors have been named
the best in the county.
In 2005, they also came
in second place in New
York State.
In the photos, the young
members pose with the
Chiefs of the Department
and their junior
advisors.
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2006
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Each year the young members
of the Lynbrook Junior Fire
Department hold a car wash
and the money raised is
donated to a worthy cause.
Last year they donated the
proceeds to the family of
former Lynbrook Fire
Department Ex-Captain
Jeffrey Wiener who was
killed in action in Iraq in
2005. This year
the Juniors donated the $500
raised at their recent car
wash to a scholarship fund
set up in the name of
Malverne volunteer
firefighter Paul Brady who
died in the line of duty at
the Malverne firehouse on
July 30, 2006.
The Lynbrook Juniors
presented the check to the
Malverne Fire Department at
their monthly meeting held
on December 18, 2006.
In the above photo Lynbrook
Junior Captain Danny
Dempsey, center left,
presented the $500 check to
Malverne Fire Chief Mike
Latronico, center right, at
the meeting. To the
left of Dempsey are Junior
Lieutenants Allison Matzen
and Mike Isler, along with
Junior firefighter Michael
Rivera.
Also on hand for the
presentation, on the right,
were Lynbrook Fire Chief
Keith Festa, and Assistant
Chiefs Robert Occhipinti,
John O’Reilly, and Kevin
Bien. Each of the
present four Lynbrook Fire
Chiefs are former members of
the Lynbrook Junior Fire
Department program.
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On Sunday, January 27, 2008, the members
of the Lynbrook Junior Fire Department
particpated in the LFD's drill that was
held at the McDonald's on Merrick Road.
The building is being demolished for a
new store. A number of juniors
acted as victims during the drill.
The
Lynbrook Junior Fire Department
presented a $700 donation to the family
of a North Carolina firefighter who was
killed in the line of duty. In the
above photo, the check is presented to
Junior Ex-Captain Michael Isler, extreme
left, a nephew of the late North
Carolina firefighter Victor Isler, by
Junior 2nd Lieutenant Peter
German, and Junior Captain Kara
McLaughlin. Also present are, from
middle to right, Lynbrook Fire Chief
John O’Reilly, First Deputy Kevin Bien,
Second Deputy Raymond Burke, and Third
Deputy Michael Hynes. The money
for the donation came from a recent
Junior fundraising breakfast and will be
added to a fund started by North
Carolina firefighters to help Victor
Isler’s family.
Juniors, Advisors, and Chiefs after the
2008 Memorial Service Breakfast at the K
of C.
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For
2009, and for the fifth time, the
Lynbrook Junior Fire Department was
named the Best in Nassau County by
the Nassau County Drill Team
Captain's Association. The
award was presented to Junior
Captain Peter Germain, right, and
First Lieutenant Dillon Bien by the
Drill Team Captain's Association
president Tom Fitzsimons of the
Baldwin FD at the annual Association
Installation and Awards Dinner held
on November 14, 2009. Lynbrook
Juniors were previously Nassau's
best in 2001, 2003, 2005, 2008. 
