71. Robert Chiz (2018-2019)
Served 18 Months
Robert Chiz was born August 18, 1954. He was adopted by his loving parents, Frank and Margaret and brought home to 19 Preston Lane where he still lives today. Bob graduated from Hicksville Senior High School in 1972. In October of 1976 he married his lovely wife Mary O’Malley. They have three children, Peter, Douglas, and Linda along with three grandchildren Liam, Colin, and Eloise. Bob worked in the electronics industry for the private sector most of his career, then was employed by the Town of Oyster Bay Division of
Public Safety and currently working at Nassau County Office of Emergency Management.
This was Bob’s second stint as Chief of Department. The Department elected Bob as Chief in August of 2018, when Chief Robert Telender Jr. stepped down. The first few months back in the office were extremely busy for Bob and the department. The first two weeks the department battled two house fires, a motor vehicle accident with entrapment and then in early October battled another working house fire.
On Tuesday September 4, 2018, the department responded to a house fire on Cantiague Rock Road. Firefighters arrived at a heavy fire condition on the second floor. One firefighter sustained minor injuries battling the blaze. Mutual aid came from Westbury, Jericho, Syosset, and Bethpage. The fire, under the command of Bob, was brought under control in 30 minutes with overhaul taking an additional hour.
On Friday afternoon September 14, 2018, the department was alerted of a house fire on Cortland Avenue. The arriving crews were met with heavy smoke coming from the two-story home with a fire located on the second floor. The fire was quickly extinguished, and no injuries
were reported.
On Thursday September 27, 2018, at 05:48 AM, the department was alerted to a motor vehicle accident with entrapment on South Broadway. Crews extricated the passenger and transported him to Nassau University Medical Center where he succumbed to his injuries.
At 23:50 hours, on October 5, 2018, the department was alerted to a reported house fire on Brooks Street. Upon arrival, Bob transmitted a Signal 10, stating a fire on the second floor of a 2-story split level private dwelling. First arriving Engine, 932 stretched 2 lines. The second line being operated by member of the second arriving engine, 933. The fire was knocked down quickly and reported under control in about 40 minutes. Neighboring departments from Plainview, Bethpage, and Levittown supplied Mutual Aid to the scene.
On Saturday, March 9, 2019, at 7:33 AM the dispatcher received a report of a bedroom fire at 69 Bunker Lane. Bob was first on scene and reported a fully involved working house fire and a signal 10 was transmitted. Heavy volume of fire was throughout the structure, with flames extending out the front of the house. An aggressive attack was made, and the fire was knocked down. The structure received major damage. Mutual aid from surrounding departments were assisting at the scene and covering the district. Two occupants were transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Also, a pet dog perished in the fire.
Early Tuesday morning on April 2, 2019, the department was alerted to a van fire. The dispatcher received multiple calls stating that the van was very close to the house. Assistant Chief Moskos arrived and reported a fully involved van fire with extension into the house. Upon arrival Bob assumed command and a signal 10 was transmitted. First arriving Engine 933 stretched two lines and made a quick and aggressive attack, which kept the main body of fire to the garage.
At 07:47 hours on April 4, 2019, the department was dispatched to a reported house fire with person(s) trapped at 54 Park Avenue. While in route the dispatcher notified Bob that a hoarder’s condition might exist in the home. When Bob turned onto Park Avenue, he reported smoke showing. Immediately upon arrival, the chief transmitted a signal 10 advising that it was a 2-story private dwelling with a heavy smoke condition coming from it. Also, at the same time, District Paramedic Scott DiPino arrived at the scene.
Several civilians at the scene stated that there was indeed a woman in the house. Bob transmitted that a person had been confirmed trapped inside the house and that he was giving up command and attempting a rescue. During this time other civilians reported to Scott that they last saw the occupant on the #4 side of the building yelling for help, out of a bedroom window. Bob attempted to make entry into the home through the front door, this effort was unsuccessful due to the amount of clutter blocking the door. However Bob did not know the front door was blocked at the time. During this time Paramedic Scott DiPino had gone to the #4 side of the building and was joined by Bob. The occupant then appeared at the window and began screaming for help. She informed Bob and Scott that her egress from the house was cut off by smoke, heavy clutter conditions, and a fire which was rapidly spreading. Noting that the conditions inside the residence were deteriorating, and that the occupant was in obvious distress, Scott instructed the women to extend her arms which he grabbed, and Bob assisted by grabbing her hips and legs pulling the woman from the window to safety. Once lowered from the window she was moved out of harm’s way onto the ground several feet away from the residence. Bob, once back at his vehicle, then radioed to the dispatcher that the occupant had been removed, and that she was the only person in the residence. Bob then established command, and Scott assessed the patient and her injuries (smoke inhalation, cuts, scrapes, etc.) The occupant was removed to ambulance 9319 when it arrived and was transported to NUMC for further care and treatment.
At the time the first engine arrived, the room that the occupant was removed from, was fully charged. Excessive clutter in the house made it difficult for firefighters to make an aggressive interior attack and contributed to a lengthy overhaul process. Access to the second floor could only be made by ladder through the second-floor window and the basement stairs were also blocked. In other rooms you couldn't walk through as there was clutter piled about four feet high in every room including the kitchen where the fire originated. Also, two dogs were located and removed from the house. Unfortunately, one dog expired on-scene. The other was immediately transported to an emergency veterinarian for further care. Numerous mutual-aid departments were at the scene as well as standing-by. Also, at the scene were Nassau County Police, Nassau County Ambulance Bureau, Nassau County Arson Bomb, Nassau County Fire Marshal, and Town of Oyster Bay Building Department.
Bob and Scott were each awarded for their heroic and lifesaving actions by the Hicksville Fire Department's Class 3 - Henry Gebhardt Award and Nassau County Fire Commission Bronze Medal of Valor.
On Monday, April 29, 2019, the fire department was alerted to a reported building fire. First arriving unit Engine 933 was met with a heavy smoke condition at the front of the building and began to stretch two hand lines. Upon arrival at the scene Bob notified dispatch of a signal 10 building fire. Upon entry crews were met with heavy fire and quickly deteriorating conditions inside. A few minutes after making the entry Bob gave the order for all crews to evacuate the building and go into a defensive operation. The entire building was destroyed and there was a partial collapse of the roof.
On Thursday, May 2, 2019, at around 12:50 PM, a Hicksville woman died after firefighters pulled her out of the second floor of her cluttered, burning home on Ketcham Avenue. She had been quickly found in the bathroom after neighbors told firefighters there was someone inside, but efforts to revive her at the scene proved futile. There was smoke coming out of the second-floor window with no visible fire outside the windows at that time. Firefighters stretched a hose line into the house from the front door but had to deal with trash, bottles, and items in the way, including on the staircase. The clutter hampered the advancing of the line. Once firefighters were able to get up to the second floor, there was still extreme clutter there, but they were able to knock the fire down. The fire was declared under control in about half an hour, but there was an extended period doing overhaul because of the extreme clutter conditions. The woman was taken to Nassau University Medical Center, where she was declared dead.
The department responded to a reported building fire on West John Street on June 22, 2019. Engine 933 arrived to heavy smoke coming from a single-story commercial building. As crews made entry into the building with multiple handlines, the rear of the building became fully involved and all members were pulled for an exterior attack with master streams from Hicksville Ladder 931, Syosset Ladder 582 and handlines. It took about an hour to bring the fire under control with mutual aid from Westbury.
At 10:20 am on Saturday, June 29, 2019, the department responded to multiple calls for a house fire on Boxwood Lane. Bob, upon arrival, found an exterior fire had been knocked down by neighbors with a garden hose and buckets of water from the backyard swimming pool. The fire had minor extension into the home but caused major damage to the two-story house.
At 6:21 pm on Monday, July 22, 2019, a home, located at the intersection of Notre Dame Avenue and Desmond Place, caught fire after it was struck by lightning at the start of heavy rains and severe thunderstorms. Upon arrival Bob reported a fire in the attic of the three-story home and transmitted a signal 10. Crews extinguished the fire, but the home was heavily damaged. The Syosset Fire Department was called to the scene for a ladder truck. While firefighters were battling the fire across the street on Desmond Place, firefighters secured an area around a downed primary power line that was burning in a parking lot. The power authority quickly arrived and shut down the power. During the storms members operated at 8 alarms.
In September of 2018 the departments held a dedication ceremony for their new fire training facility, dedicated in honor of Honorary Chief George Howard, a department member who was tragically killed on 9/11. The new facility, located at Station 3, will allow members to train in a realistic environment and prepare them to handle the demands firefighters routinely face on the job.
In 2021, Bob was elected to serve as Fire Commissioner of the Hicksville Fire District for a 5-Year term and in 2024 elected to serve as Chairman of the 9th Battalion Fire Commission.
