Riverhead Fire Department Responded to Nearly 1,100 Alarms in 2011

Last year, the responded to 1,091 alarms, nearly as much as 2010's record-setting 1,095 responded to a year prior.

Chief Nick Luparella said that in responding to nearly three alarms per day - including a total of 84 structure fires, 82 carbon monoxide alarms, 41 reports of gas odor, and 25 vehicle fires - the crews tallied up a total of 10,346 hours on scene. In addition, even more time - a total of about 15,000 hours - was spent doing drills, training, work details, meetings, and other activities keeping the fire department ready.

Among those hours spent not on the scene of a call, just over 900 was spent educating Riverhead's youth about fire safety, including an Over 2,500 kids received fire training through Riverhead's elementary schools.

The fire department consists of 180 volunteers from the community.