Meeting Report - Apr, 2008

The regular meeting of the Long Island Emergency Vehicle Technicians was held on Wednesday, April 30 at the Coram Fire Department. More than fifty members enjoyed an excellent dinner – the LIEVT chefs’ hats were presented to the hosts.

President Steve Velazquez opened the meeting with a pledge to the flag. He introduced Van Johnson, Commissioner of Coram, who welcomed the group and expressed his appreciation for all this group does for the Long Island community. Paul Sailon, the treasurer, gave his report, thanked the members that had paid and reminded the members that some dues were overdue. He distributed laminated membership cards for 2008 to the attendees who were paid up.

Steve asked member Jerry Walker to talk to the attendees about the Weldon class that some of the members had attended. LIEVT webmaster, Nate Berry of Fire Research, talked about the website and gave a few hints on how best to use it. Information is usually up to date on the website. We don’t do a mailing until every detail is set but we can make changes very easily on the website. He told the group to click on the photos on the right and they can see an historical slide show of the meetings. There are valuable links for the members. Steve thanked FRC for making Nate’s talents available as well as their printing, paper, etc. for the group.

A sign-up sheet for the May 14 (Wednesday) class at Kussmaul Electronics was passed around. Kussmaul needs a number to cater dinner and set up instructional stations. The dinner will be served at 7 PM and will be followed by one and one-half hours of instruction. Anyone who wants to attend and did not sign up can to so by adding a comment directly to this story below (include your name and dept.) or by sending a message via the contact form

Steve introduced Gary Margerum of Harrison Hydraulic Generators who made a slide show presentation to the members and invited them to see his demo truck which he had driven to Coram.

The next speaker was Jason Messerschmidt of CET Pumps. He talked about the effectiveness of the portable pumps and their advantages with reduced manpower and budget constraints. Gary, Jason and the Commissioners of Coram were presented with plaques in appreciation of their contribution to LIEVT. A very busy raffle followed with items donated by Fire News, ASI, Atlantic Detroit Diesel, Fire Research, Harrison Generators, South Shore Fire Equipment and Rescue Vehicles. Passes to NYS Fire Chiefs in Lake George and Firehouse in Baltimore were available for the members.