In the last month, Garden City's volunteer firefighters were busy assisting neighboring fire departments in tackling two serious fires. In the evening hours of Sunday, April 19th, Garden City volunteer firefighters were called to assist the Franklin Square Fire Department with a fire at the well-known A & S Bagel Store on Hempstead Turnpike. The Garden City Fire Department sent a crew of firefighters and a heavy rescue truck directly to the scene of the blaze as well as a crew of firefighters and a tower ladder to Franklin Square's headquarters to cover their community in the event of another fire call or emergency. According to Garden City Assistant Fire Chief Joseph Nadolny, "on my arrival at the scene, there was fire through the roof of the building, our crews were able to quickly respond in and assist with checking for fire extension and conducting overhaul." Firefighters from several departments battled the blaze and were able to contain it to the bagel store.

During the morning hours of Thursday, May 14th, Garden City's volunteer firefighters were requested to assist the Garden City Park Fire Department with a major house fire in the North New Hyde Park section of their district. The village's volunteer firefighters responded directly to the scene with a tower ladder and crew of firefighters. According to Garden City Assistant Chief William Castoro, "the blaze was significant, they had heavy fire in the walls and attic space of the residence which required strenuous, aggressive firefighting tactics. We were called to assist and our team worked very hard to accomplish those tasks."

Mutual aid is an important component of firefighting. Most fire departments nationwide rely on their neighboring fire departments to assist when major emergencies or fires occur. Mutual aid helps bring in additional resources and equipment necessary to handle these larger emergencies. Garden City Fire Chief William Graham noted that "mutual aid is a vital component of the fire service, whether it is a call directly to the scene of an emergency, or equally as important, relocating to another department's station to cover additional emergencies, mutual aid helps bring in resources necessary to handle emergencies that are more significant than our routine, day to day alarms." The Garden City Fire Department also relies upon mutual aid to assist our village firefighters in the event of a significant fire or emergency. If any village resident is interested in volunteering in the fire department, they can call 465-4130.