Letter to the Editor: Remembering a Father & WI Firefighter

I was born and raised in West Islip, and left after graduating high school to join the military. I served in the West Islip Fire Department until I left, and I am a currently a proud member of the West Islip Exempt Fireman's Benevolent Association.

I was called back this last weekend after the passing of a decorated 53-year veteran of the West Islip Volunteer Fire Department. My dad, Alfred J. Waters was also an ex captain of Vanguard Engine company, a West Islip ex-chief, a decorated hero (Fireman of the Year, 1983), and a Lilco retiree. He passed on Monday, Nov. 14 after a long fight with cancer. He never smoked a cigarette in his life.

I won't go on to recite his obituary counting the Islip Town organizations he volunteered for and the positions he held in the fire department community; there's not enough space. I won't go on to list my six brothers and sisters and the nine grandchildren he left behind, we know who we are.

My reason for writing was to apologize to everyone who had their evening interrupted last Friday night because two of our neighboring fire department communities (Brentwood & Bayshore) blocked off the westbound lanes in front of Good Sam to park a couple of aerial ladders and drape a 60-foot-long American flag over the entrance of Chapey's on Montauk Highway. Ex-Chief Al Waters was well known and respected across most of the fire prevention and emergency services communities and a couple of the guys wanted to show their appreciation.

I'm also apologizing for the traffic snarl on Sunrise Highway while the Suffolk County Police Department escorted several West Islip fire trucks to Coram to lay to rest the body of Ex-Chief Al Waters.

If you're in the neighborhood, and your wondering who Al Waters was and exactly how much he influenced the emergency services you have available to you today, my brothers and sisters of the West Islip Fire Department have assured me that they would each be honored to take you on a tour of your fire department's facilities, and give you a short history lesson of one of the men who for the last 53 years answered the call for the people of West Islip.  He assisted whenever the alarm would call, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, no matter the weather, no matter the temperature.  He was not just a volunteer, he was West Islip's volunteer.

God Bless and protect the men and women, and their families who serve and protect the community of West Islip.

Sincerely,
Matthew Waters