Approximately 8 weeks ago, The Lewes Fire Department instituted a new volunteer duty night program where members of the department spend a 12 hour tour of duty at the fire station once a week whose purpose is to shorten the initial response times for the first piece of fire apparatus to an emergency scene. This duty night crew reports in uniform to Station 1 at 1800 hours performs apparatus checks and cooks a meal.
After eating and clean up the crew will leave quarters and perform training session on a variety of topics or pre-plan a first due area target hazard. It is the hope of the fire department administration that this program will grow to include coverage on every night of the week. The department already provides a 24/7 career crew for EMS coverage. This duty night crew responded to their first incident on May 1st to a reported house fire, in the Rehoboth/Dewey area assisting Rehoboth Volunteers with what ended up being a beach brush fire.
The first Lewes F.D. duty crew consists of the following members:
Lieutenant
K. Murphy Driver
J.V. Pignataro
Fireman
F. Fitzgerald Fireman
A. Hamilton
Fireman
A. Parsells Fireman
J.A. Pignataro
Fireman
R. Stephens Fireman
K. Wharton
