A lifelong fire in the belly

Heather Senti becomes the first female fire commission for Lakeview

Posted

In 2012, Heather Senti of Lakeview became the first female to be a fire chief in Nassau County. Last week, she ran unchallenged during a special fire district election that will make her Lakeview’s first female fire commissioner in January 2015.

Is that a surprise for anybody who even remotely knows her? Hardly.

Senti, a lifelong Lakeview resident, has been a member of the Lakeview Fire department for 11 years. During that time, she has held the positions of captain, lieutenant, EMS director, president, secretary and trustee — in addition to begin a firefighter of course.

And then there’s the fact that Senti has a paying job with the Massapequa fire district as fire prevention officer. She also worked with the Office of Emergency Management for four years and is just completing her master’s degree in emergency management at Adelphi University.

Oh, and did we mention that her father and brother also hold high offices in the Lakeview Fire Department, as did her grandfather who passed away in 2000 and who the firehouse is named after? And oops, we forgot to mention and that she is engaged to be married to the department’s assistant chief, Patrick McNeill?

It’s an incredible understatement to say that this fire department is deep in her blood.

Senti’s new position as commissioner could be likened to the responsibilities for a corporate CFO. “I’ll be establishing budget lines, making sure our grounds and apparatus are maintained, overseeing equipment purchases, and be the answering body to the resident and/or taxpayer when it comes to managing the goings-on of the department,” said Senti. The department’s officers are answerable to her and the other four people who are also fire commissioners at the Lakeview FD: Robert Hockenjos, Pasquale Rayano, Joseph Cipolla, and her father, Frederick Senti Jr.

Page 1 / 2