Mineola Firefighters Recall Training Trip to Germany

Members of the Mineola Junior Fire Department made a presentation about their at the Sept. 7 village board meeting.

Captain Jack Fernandes and ex-Chief Gary Mazur along with junior members , Lt. Justin Sandberg and Lt. Christopher Strauss were all on hand to give a brief summary of the nine-day trip and to give the board a DVD video of the experience to be played on the Mineola TV channel.

“It was an unforgettable trip, it was a great experience,” Fernandes said. “Their guys are great, they’re like family to us.”

“I can speak for all of the juniors when I say that we had the best time of our lives there,” Sandberg said.

The trip included a sightseeing , a few days at , appearing on a German radio program and a .

“It’s definitely a lot different than what we do here; the stuff that our juniors are allowed to do and what they can,” Lt. Strauss said of the training session, held on the last day of the trip.

This is the second time that the Mineola juniors have been to Germany. Junior firefighters from Germany last came to Mineola in the .

“We had the greatest support,” Mazur said. “In my 13 years being with the junior fire department, I never saw a bunch of parents that were so supportive.”