Members of the Orient Fire Department, Southold Town Police Department and Plum Island ferry were honored Tuesday by the U.S. Coast Guard for their role in a water rescue last month. (more…)
Tag: Orient Fire Department
On Saturday evening, with dusk soon to arrive, the wind rising and temperatures dropping, rescuers put their own lives on the line to save three men whose boat, a 34-foot Chris Craft, had struck rocks in the challenging waters of Plum Gut off Orient Point. READ
On a cold and blustery evening Saturday, a group of determined rescuers saved three men whose boat had sunk in Plum Gut, pulling one of them — who showed signs of hypothermia and was “barely hanging on” — to safety aboard the Plum Island ferry. READ
A man salutes the flag at a Southold Town Memorial Day parade. (Katharine Schroeder file)
In keeping with tradition, Memorial Day will be observed Monday with a series of parades and ceremonies across the North Fork and Riverhead Town.
The following is Monday’s schedule of events:
• Riverhead’s annual combined veterans parade begins at 10 a.m. at the World War II memorial at the corner of Pulaski Street and Osborn Avenue. It will proceed down Main Street and return to the memorial at about 11 for a ceremony.
• The official Southold Town Memorial Day parade, held this year in Southold village, will start at 10 a.m., proceeding from Boisseau Avenue and Main Road to Griswold-Terry-Glover American Legion Post 803 at Tuckers Lane, where a ceremony will be held.
• Orient Fire Department’s parade will start at 7:30 a.m. at the Main Road firehouse. The route will run along Tabor Road to Orchard Street, then Navy Street, Village Lane, Main Road and back to the firehouse.
• Mattituck Fire Department will hold a ceremony at the war memorial at Pike Street and Wickham Avenue at 8 a.m. That event will be followed by a parade through the Love Lane business area, ending at the Pike Street firehouse.
• A dockside service is scheduled for 8 a.m. at the Greenport railroad dock. The procession will line up in the Adams Street parking lot behind the Arcade at 7:45 a.m., then move to the dock for the service. Refreshments will follow at the Third Street firehouse.
• The annual observance at Calverton National Cemetery will be held at 1 p.m. in the cemetery’s assembly area.
Fire districts within Southold Town will be holding public hearings on their proposed 2015 budgets later in October. (more…)
The department’s current tanker dates back to 1972, fire officials said. (Credit: Paul Squire)
More than $300,000 in federal funding will help Orient Fire Department purchase a new tanker truck to replace the now-outdated truck firefighters use today.
The department’s current tanker dates back to 1972, making it much older than is normally recommended for fire vehicles, said Fire Chief Robert Haase. (more…)
Orient Fire Department’s annual pig roast is next Saturday, July 26, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the firehouse. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door and $10 for kids 8 to 12. Beer, wine and soda are included and Mixed Nutz will provide live music. Tickets are available at Orient Country Store, Fork & Anchor, Orient by the Sea restaurant and the Candyman. (more…)
(Credit: Google Maps)
A pile of rags used to varnish an Orient home’s floors “self ignited” Tuesday night, filling one of the rooms with heavy smoke, according to the Orient Fire Department. (more…)
COURTESY PHOTO
Dozens of locals attended the Orient Fire Department’s annual steak night at the firehouse on Main Road Saturday night. (more…)
PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | Orient Fire District commissioner Scott Harris (left) sits next to former chairman Harold ‘Bud’ Griffith’s empty seat at Tuesday night’s board meeting. Mr. Griffith abruptly resigned from the board last month.
Less than a week after a newcomer was elected to its board of fire commissioners, the Orient Fire District has a new hole to fill.
The board’s chairman, Harold “Bud” Griffith, abruptly announced his resignation soon after the district’s regular meeting last month, during which he had disagreed with other members over the sale of a fire truck. The board voted to accept his resignation “with regret” at their December meeting Tuesday night.
Commissioner Scott Harris told the board he spoke with Mr. Griffith before the meeting and was told he still wished to resign.
Mr. Griffith submitted his letter of resignation a day before the petition deadline for candidates seeking to join the board.
“Simply put, I gave it as much time as I could,” Mr. Griffith said in a phone interview last week. He did not give a reason in his letter, district officials said.
The board has not yet determined who will be appointed to fill Mr. Griffith’s seat and is now seeking résumés from Orient residents to find a replacement for next year. Board vice chairman Linton Duell, who chose not to seek re-election, will also depart in January.
While Mr. Griffith says he resigned due to a lack of time to devote to the board, other commissioners and observers noted that his resignation comes in the wake of a board vote to sell a district fire engine — a decision Mr. Griffith opposed.
The used 1991 Seagrave engine was purchased from the Riverhead Fire Department but wasn’t being used by district firefighters, Mr. Harris said. The board voted to surplus the truck to the highest bidder, seeking a price between $25,000 and $40,000, according to minutes from the November meeting.
Mr. Griffith cast the lone dissenting vote.
“It was just at the point where if you start losing sleep over it, it’s not worth it,” Mr. Griffith said. “We all have our disagreements. I just felt at this time in my life, [it was best] not to keep arguing.”
On Tuesday, commissioner Richard Milligan said the board was “in the final throes of consummating this deal for that truck.” Money earned from the sale of the engine would go into the district’s fund for purchasing new trucks, according to the resolution.
