History of the Ambulance Unit

In 1929, the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department took ownership of its first ambulance. It was a Dodge, donated by Mr. John Rivers, and was housed at Company 2. In 1933, a new Ford was purchased with money raised from, among other things, a dance held at the Garden City Hotel. In those days, District funds could only be used for fire apparatus. In 1940, the first Cadillac ambulance was purchased. It is estimated that in the 30 years Company 2 ran the ambulance, they responded to over 5,000 medical calls. In 1959, the ambulance began responding out of Company 1.

As the community grew, call volume naturally increased. This led to more and more members responding to both ambulance and fire calls and eventually the workload became too great. In 1988, the M-LFD Ambulance Unit was created. Their first line officers were President Barbara Hicks, Secretary Steve Gerardi, Lt. Frank McCarton and Sergeant Patrick Hicks. In 1997, the officer’s titles were changed to Captain and 1st and 2nd Lieutenant to conform to the fire companies.

The Unit started with 22 members and one ambulance that the Department already owned. The first new ambulance arrived in 1990. In 1991, a second ambulance was purchased from the Great Neck Vigilant Fire Company. This 1988 Horton remained in service until its replacement in 1998 with an ALS ambulance.

Today, in addition to medical duties, the Unit responds to all working fires and rescue calls. They also receive calls through the 911 system and their own emergency hotline. In 2014, the Unit was permitted to place their oldest ambulance due for replacement as an "in service spare" which is stationed at the Fire District Offices.  This ambulances fills in when the first or second due ambulance goes out of service, or during special events and periods of signifcant call activty. The current ambulances, 8769, 8767, and 8768 all carry state-of-the-art medical equipment including LifePak 15 cardiac monitors, LUCAS CPR device, and video lyrangoscopy. They are supplemented by a Ford Expedition “EMS Fly-Car” (8799) which is used to improve response time and provide additional equipment and manpower.

The members of the Ambulance Unit are certified as New York State Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT's), Advanced Emergency Medical Technicians (A-EMT' s), Advanced Emergency Medical Technicians-Critical Care (EMT-CC's), or Paramedics who are capable of performing skills such as intravenous access and medication administration, endotracheal intubation and manual defibrillation.  The Ambulance Unit is currently stationed at Company 3 in Great Neck.