North Bellmore Fire Commissioner Election Preview

The North Bellmore Fire District will be holding its fire commissioner election this Tuesday, Dec. 14, from 3-9 p.m. Running for commissioner are Andrew Oppenheimer and Nicholas White. All North Bellmore residents who are registered voters can vote. Voting will take place at two locations—at North Bellmore Fire District Office at 1500 Newbridge Road and at North Bellmore Chiefs Office at 821 Newbridge Road.

Oppenheimer, 41, has lived in North Bellmore for five years. He lives with his wife Keri and 7-year-old daughter Julianna. Upon moving to North Bellmore, he felt that joining the fire department would be a great way to meet people in an area he and his family were new to.

"Something inside of me said, 'I've got to give back. I've got to give back to this community, and the way I can give back is by becoming a volunteer firefighter or fire medic and servicing this community, and responding to calls whenever they come in if I'm home.' That's how it started and it's been like that ever since," he said.

Oppenheimer said that if elected, he wants the community to become more involved with the department.

"I'm calling on the community," he said. "… They need to take more interest in what we do. It's their tax dollars that we're dealing with as commissioner. [They should be] watching, and asking questions and coming to meeting we have on a monthly basis."

He added: "I'm not running as a closed-door firehouse, I want to open these doors up. I want to let people in. I want to invite people in."

Oppenheimer spent his first six months with the North Bellmore Fire Department in EMT school getting an education in what he needed know and what he needed to be able to do when called upon.

Oppenheimer also chaired the committee for the Smithville South Company's 100th anniversary, which was held two years ago. There were races, a carnival, a parade and a multiple-day celebration that honored Bellmore's bravest. But Oppenheimer's biggest contribution to the centennial was bringing in a major sponsor: Pepsi.

"I brought Pepsi to the table," he said "… In all, Pepsi probably came close to donating at least $10,000 to the event through their banners, through their advertisements on the radio, and through their specialty drink stations that they set up at the carnival and at the races that we had that year."

Oppenheimer noted that bringing a sponsor like Pepsi into an event like that speaks volumes as to what he can do for residents if elected commissioner.

"I think that, on my end, it showed that this is what I want to do. I want to open this up to people. I want to open up avenues of bringing other dollars into the department and maybe help reducing some cost to the community."

Running against Oppenheimer is White, a 32-year veteran of the North Bellmore Fire Department and longtime Bellmore resident. White graduated from Mepham in 1978 and has live in Bellmore for most of his life.

"I've lived in Bellmore virtually all my life. I moved here when I was three years old," he said.  "… I've been a member for 32 years. Prior to that, I was a junior firefighter here."

White has gone through the ranks of Lieutenant-Captain of Smithville South Company #1. He is also a two-time ex-chief of the North Bellmore Fire Department; once from 1992-94 and then again from 2004-05. He is currently the treasurer on the Board of Fire Commissioners for the North Bellmore Fire district.

White says that the experience he has gained in 32 years with the fire department will ultimately help he be a successful commissioner.

"During my 32 years of service for the North Bellmore Fire Department I've gained experience, insight and knowledge as to what is needed to hold this very important position," he said. "I think it's most essential that our fire department have the state of the art equipment and apparatus, along with the most current training available, to ensure the safety of our firefighters and fire medics in suppressing fire and rendering aide in all emergency situations."

"As commissioner, firefighter safety and the safety of the community will always be my foremost concern," he added.