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The third term’s the charm

Robert Podesta is back for 2 more years as Seaford’s fire chief

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When he was 13, Robert Podesta remembers running off to see a house fire around the block from where he lived. A Seaford fire chief came up to him and told him about the department’s Explorers program for aspiring firefighters.

That chief told Podesta that when he turned 14 he should come down to the firehouse. “I did that,” he said, “and I’ve been here ever since.”

Earlier this month Podesta, 53, became the chief of the department again. He is the only person in the department’s 120-year history to hold the post three times. “I enjoy the job,” he said. “It makes you proud that you’re elected by your membership and they want you to do it again.”

Podesta joined the department on Sept. 3, 1979, after four years in the Explorers program. He climbed the ranks, becoming a lieutenant in 1983 and a captain two year later. In 1987 he was elected second assistant chief, one of the youngest members of the department ever to hold that rank.

Being a fire chief is typically a six-year commitment, with two years as second assistant chief, two years as first assistant chief, and two more leading the department. He did that twice, from 1987 to 1993, and again from 2007 to 2013.

When Paul Lochner moved up to chief last year when there was a vacancy, Podesta returned at Lochner’s urging as first assistant chief. When Podesta’s latest term ends in 2017, he will have had 15 years in the chief’s office. Over the years, Podesta and Lochner have both served as an assistant chief for each other.

There are differences since he first took the reins of the department in 1991. He remembers creating his chief’s reports on a typewriter and filing them on carbon paper. There is more paperwork today, he said, and more regulations on departments.

From 1994 to 2001, Podesta served on the Board of Commissioners for the Seaford Fire District, which oversees the budget and sets policy. After being appointed to fill a vacancy, he won a five-year term in 1996.

He was ceremonially sworn in as chief on Saturday at the department’s installation dinner at the Milleridge Cottage in Jericho, along with assistant chiefs Keith Kern and Michael Bellissimo, who both have 15 to 20 years of volunteer service. There are also several first-time lieutenants and captains this year, and Podesta said he wants to work with them and mold them into future chiefs to ensure strong leadership in the department for years to come.

One of his goals is to continue building the membership, which has risen by nearly one-third, to 86 volunteers, in the past few years. Seaford is one of the area’s smallest departments, with just one firehouse.

Keeping a vibrant feeder program in the Explorers is key, Podesta said. He wants to step up recruitment efforts at the high school and encourage teens to join.

There is also a need for more emergency medical technicians, with rescue calls now accounting for 65 to 70 percent of the department’s responses each year.

Podesta wants to continue the department’s fire prevention efforts, which include bringing the fire safety trailer to local schools, having scouts and pre-school students come to the fire station, and holding the annual open house.

The one call that stands out for Podesta during his 36 years with the department is when a propane tank overturned on the Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway near Sunrise Highway in 1988. It burned for three days, and hundreds of homes in the area had to be evacuated.

Podesta has three children, ages 28, 24 and 9, and he owns an electrical contracting business in New York City. He is a 1980 graduate of Seaford High School.

“I’ve always enjoyed helping the community,” he said. “That was the main reason I joined the department. When that pager goes off, it’s all about business.”