Monday, November 10, 2025
The Rockville Centre Fire Department welcomed community members to its second annual open house, combining family fun with hands-on demonstrations in honor of Fire Prevention Week.
The event, hosted by Floodlight Rescue Company No. 1, also marked the company’s 85th anniversary.
“To continue our fundraising and to encourage some recruitment, which means to hopefully bring in some members and things like that, we have the open house to offer some demonstrations on what we do,” said Lieutenant Kim Martino of the department. “Bring in who we work with, county wise, and just to kind of make it a family fun day.”
The open house featured a wide array of activities designed to educate the public on fire safety and emergency response. A highlight was the various demonstrations, like the drone demonstration to show the community how useful it can be to see from above during emergencies, and the department’s “smoke house,” a trailer outfitted with lights and fog to simulate how smoke fills a room during a fire.
“We have the smoke house in the back to demonstrate how smoke does fill a room,” Martino said. “We do have lights in there that simulate what a plane would look like in a smoky condition. So that way we can crawl low and go.”
Other demonstrations included ambulance tours, firefighting gear exhibits and rescue vehicle displays, all of which showcased the department’s various emergency response capabilities. Floodlight Rescue Co. No. 1 currently has 52 members, according to Martino, who serve the community.
The event also served as an opportunity for junior firefighters to engage with the community and share their experience.
Joseph Martino, Lt. Martino’s son, said firefighting runs in the family and he joined as a junior firefighter two years ago. Now 16, he has two more years to go before he can become a full member of the department.
As part of the open house, Joseph and fellow junior members helped explain different components of the department’s work, including structure fire response, emergency medical service operations and vehicle rescues.
“We’re really just showing off what we can do inside structure fires,” he said.
Families came to visit the fire house throughout the four hour event. Veronica Marallo, who came with her husband and two children, said her family just moved to Rockville Centre with her husband and two young daughters, and this event was a good way to connect with local emergency services.
“We just moved to the area a few months ago, and we were excited to just come see a community event,” she said. “My kids have been wanting to see a fire house.”
The department hopes the event inspired interest in fire safety and in volunteering.
“We’re just hoping to raise awareness and maybe bring in some new members,” Martino said.
Anyone who is interested in volunteering with the Rockville Centre Fire Department can visit RVCFD.org.
