Former fire chief honored for 50 years of service to Elmont

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Former Elmont Fire Chief Daniel DiPiazza was honored last month by the department for 50 years of service. Members of Engine Company 4 surprised the retired firefighter at his home in North Valley Stream on July 17 with a proclamation from County Executive Ed Mangano.

“I was outside doing a little gardening on the porch and fire trucks pull up,” DiPiazza said. “The guys from Engine 4 came out with this beautiful plaque and presented it to me. Receiving that personally from the guys in the company, some of them I’ve watched grow up since they were kids, it meant a lot to me. I don’t get choked up too often, but it was really nice.”

DiPiazza, 72, began working at the Fire Department in 1966, as a 22-year-old, but one of his most fond memories is of the winter of 1969, when a severe blizzard hit the Northeast. He had to pick up his wife, Carol, from Franklin Hospital. She had just given birth to their first child, Deborah. But his car was snowed in. That’s when the Elmont fire chief at the time, Charlie Whitlatch, came to DiPiazza’s rescue. He picked up the new father in his ’51 Chevy and drove him to the hospital through the storm.

“He took my wife, the baby, and myself home,” DiPiazza recalled.

As they were on their way, they received one of DiPiazza’s most memorable fire calls. Whitlatch was unsure whether to drop them off before heading to the fire emergency. That’s when Carol made the decision for them.

“My wife said, ‘Go to the fire call,’” DiPiazza recounted. They dropped his wife and newborn off at the station, and he and Whitlatch drove to the fire. After DiPiazza helped his colleagues put out the fire, Whitlatch drove the new family home.

“I met a lot of good people when I first got in,” DiPiazza said. “It was a family type of atmosphere not only at Engine 4, but all the other companies. Today it’s just as nice, but on a different level.”

What made DiPiazza’s tenure at the EFD so memorable was the camaraderie he had with his fellow firefighters. He recalled a prank the men pulled, involving Whitlatch’s ’51 Chevy. The car was black, in contrast to the other chiefs’ red ones, so DiPiazza and his crew decided to give the chief a surprise.

“One Sunday, we detained him in the firehouse, and his car was parked next door at the gas station,” DiPiazza said. “A whole bunch of guys got cans of red paint and paint brushes, and painted his car red. He came out and he had tears in his eyes.”

DiPiazza was injured in March 1969, when a firehose that got away crushed his knee at a fire on Elmont Road. One of his partners pulled him out, helped him get to the ambulance truck and picked up his wife so that she could visit him in the hospital.

“Faces have changed, people have changed, but the same camaraderie and the same trust is there,” DiPiazza said. “You have your arguments, but when it comes down to it, as soon as that alarm rings, all differences are put aside. Everybody watches everybody else’s back. That’s the way it is today; that’s the way it was back then.”

DiPiazza is also proud of the department’s addition of the Emergency Medical Services, which has given women a chance to contribute to the company. “One of the best changes that I saw was forming an EMS company,” he said. “It allowed more girls and women to volunteer without going through the training of a firefighter.”

He talked about how he matured into his duties as a fire chief. “You tend to use your brains a little bit more now, and think before you act,” he said. “The second or so that you think you know what you’re doing and see what you’re doing makes a big difference. It makes you be able to walk out of that fire and come to your family.”

In 1964, two years before he became a firefighter, DiPiazza moved from Brooklyn to North Valley Stream, and heard constant sirens around his new home. “When I first moved here, you’d hear the sirens going off all the time …,” he said. “You hear that, and I was curious. One day, I’m driving along and I see these cars going down Linden Boulevard with blue lights flashing.”

He followed them, and watched as the firefighters prepared to head out. “They drop whatever they’re doing to go get on a firetruck and go help somebody in distress,” he said. “I said to myself, ‘I want to be a part of that.’ That was it. Nothing stopped me from there on.”

DiPiazza credits his wife and children for being so understanding about his job and his commitment to serving the community. “If it wasn’t for my wife and my family being so tolerant of all the missed dinners, missed holidays, missed family gatherings, the kids’ athletic events — there’s a great amount of gratitude that I have for them,” he said.

He and Carol have been married for 49 years. She was a member of the Ladies Auxiliary at Engine Company 4, and they have four children, Deborah, Patricia, Daniel Jr. and Christine. Patricia and Daniel Jr. followed his path, each working in the department.

No longer fighting fires, DiPiazza gets up before sunrise to take care of his garden, which is filled with colorful plants. Then he sits on his front porch, greeting passing neighbors headed to work. Reflecting on his years with the EFD, he described the feeling he got from his community.

“Self-gratitude,” he said. “Knowing that you’re able to get out there and help your neighbor do things, help people in the community, it all comes around.”