Women's History Month

Female firefighter a Valley Stream trailblazer

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Being a mother always comes first for Deborah Bove. Protecting lives and property in Valley Stream is a close second.

On Oct. 15, 1985, Bove, then Deborah Stacy, joined the Valley Stream Fire Department. While she wasn’t the first woman to become a member, she was the first female life member, an honor she received in 2010 after completing 25 years in the department.

Bove grew up in Valley Stream, attending the Robert W. Carbonaro Elementary School and South High School. She was one of the earliest members of the Junior Fire Department, and was its first secretary. When she turned 18, she wasn’t sure if she would move up, but eventually decided to follow in the footsteps of her father, Richard, and older brother, Robert. She even joined with a friend, Georgette Cowen Pincus, who later moved away. They were the first two female members in the history of Engine Company No. 3, based out of the Cochran Place firehouse.

Though Bove doesn’t remember the first call she responded to, she does recount the first big fire. It was three months after she joined, a serious house fire on Catherine Street at the home of a former village trustee.

She remembers missing the fire truck, so she rode her bike to the scene. She grabbed her gear off the truck and went to work. Bove keeps a scrapbook of her firefighting career, which includes pictures of her at that blaze.

In late 1987, a home on Pine Lane, around the block from her, caught fire. She could see the flames from her house and remembers the concern she had for her neighbors. “Thank God everybody got out OK,” she said. “This is one of the most upsetting ones I’ve dealt with because I knew who the people were.”

At a house fire on Corona Avenue, Bove remembers going in to relieve another firefighter. Little did she know, the person she replaced had to leave because of burns. Knowing that ahead of time wouldn’t have kept her from facing the tough conditions inside. “It’s just an instinct,” she said. “That’s what you’re trained to do.”

In 2008, a home at the corner of Morris Parkway and Wheeler Avenue caught fire. Bove was driving home from her son’s roller hockey game when the call came through. She went to the scene, left her sons with a friend, and got on a hose.

When the fire was out, her youngest son, then 1, needed his diaper changed. She laid him down on her turncoat and got the job done. “A mom’s job never stops, even at a fire,” she said.

Bove admits that being a mother has cut back on the amount of calls she has been able to make over the years, but giving up firefighting is not an option. “To me, it’s just part of my life,” she said. “I wouldn’t know any different.”

Even a move to neighboring Malverne, where she lives with her husband, Guy, and sons, Nicholas, 13, and Kyle, 6, hasn’t stopped her. While her husband is a Malverne firefighter, Bove is staying put in Valley Stream, where she volunteers alongside firefighters she has known since she was 5.

Bove, who works for the Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter, has served as the financial secretary for Engine Company No. 3 and is a member of the investigations committee. She has also served on other committees, was a licensed emergency medical technician for six years, and marched with the Color Guard in parades. When Nicholas was 7, he was a member of the Junior Fire Department tournament team.

In her 28 years with the department, Bove’s company has had four different trucks. Each time, she said, they got bigger. She remembers the 1969 engine which had an open cab where the firefighters sat.

Bove is proud to have been a member of the Valley Stream Fire Department for nearly three decades, and honored to be the first woman to have been on the roster for so long. She said there are many reasons why she has stayed, but the top one is the people. “It’s the friendships that keep you going,” she said. “When it comes down to it, your lives depends on each other at the calls.”