Ten years ago, MacArthur Airport in Long Island was a small patch of runways serving local air-transportation needs. Today, it hosts several commercial airlines, including Continental, Delta XP and Southwest, which recently opened a new addition in the now-bustling regional airport. All this growth means more responsibility for the small group of Local 237 members with the title of Airport Fire Safety Officer.

To keep up with the expansion, an additional five fire safety officers were hired in the past half year, completing a staff of 15 men who work three shifts a day. Airport Rescue Firefighters, as they are called by the Federal Aviation Administration, are primarily responsible for aircraft emergencies, and are trained to extinguish jet-fuel fires.

They also handle medical emergencies, which arise from time to time, considering that an average 100 large and small passenger planes take off and land each day. In case someone suffers a heart attack, the firefighters are trained to use defibrillators. They’re also certified New York State Emergency Medical Technicians.

During their eight-hour shifts, firefighters must remain on the property, ready for all emergencies. Among their duties they inspect runways three times a day, and at night they check runway lights. At all times they must keep fire trucks and equipment in working order.

Inside the command center, known as the Fire Rescue Station, Greg Pitka, a firefighter and radio console operator, sits at an immense window overlooking the panorama of planes in various stages of activity, while monitoring the large console that transmits airport radio communications and a video screen with multiple images of the airport grounds. Chief Fire Safety Officer Lee Gillette is describing the station’s operations when a loud radio alarm interrupts him. “Fuel spill at gate 3! Fuel spill at gate 3!”

In a flash, several firefighters run out of the station, man specialized fire trucks and drive quickly across the tarmac to gate 3 where they check the fuel spill to make sure it doesn’t ignite. The cause of the spill is soon determined to be over-fueling, a routine, but hazardous, problem. “We’re much busier now,” says Chief Gillette, a 30-year veteran of Local 237 and MacArthur Airport, noting that the facility has grown five times over in the past decade as an increasing population turns to the regional airport for flights to hubs across the nation, rather than drive to JFK.


An Airport Rescue Firefighter Truck, aka “ARF,” is a mainstay of the job, and the perfect backdrop for officers (from left) Al Cinotti, Jim Savastano, Ryan Tomassione, Greg Pitka and Robert Doucette.

The fire station averages about one emergency call per day, ranging from medical to aircraft distress, says Gillette. “If a commercial plane declares an emergency, we have to be at midpoint of the longest runway in three minutes, from time of activation of a phone call from control tower,” as mandated by the FAA.

To this end, Airport Rescue Firefighter trucks, known as “ARF” trucks, are designed to be operated by one person for maximum efficiency. The huge, uniquely shaped vehicles are equipped with foam to fight jet-fuel fires and with a pro at the wheel. Fire safety officers must have prior firefighting experience and must pass medical tests.

Most of MacArthur’s fire safety officers are former volunteer firefighters from local fire departments.


A view from inside an “ARF” of the fuel spill cleanup crew at gate 3.



Officer Greg Pitka keeps his eyes and ears trained on the entire facility from his post at the fire station.



Firefighting gear is lined up and ready for battle at all times.