| With the Riverhead Fire Department celebrating the 100th year of service of the Reliable Hose and Engine Company No. 1, there's a member in good standing who recalls 70 of those years.
"I became a member of the Reliables on July 16, 1934," said Alvin Bartunek, 93, citing a letter he received from the department announcing his membership. The letter went on to order the 23-year-old to report two days later to Sayville for a parade and a tournament.
"We were always a great tournament team, winning the state championship the year after I became a member," Mr. Bartunek said proudly in his clear, strong voice.
The department celebrated the 100th anniversary of the formation of the company in March at the Birchwood Restaurant, and also honored Mr. Bartunek's years of service that same evening.
All members of the department are known as Reliables these days, said Captain Nick Luparella. "The department was formed in 1836 by a group of citizens, but the Reliables were organized on March 1, 1904," the captain said. "It was known as Riverhead Hose Company No. 1, and then on Nov. 24, 1908, fireman Stanley Duvall proposed the members be called the Reliables."
About his nonagenarian colleague, Capt. Luparella had two words: "Unbelievable man."
Mr. Bartunek, the father of Riverhead Councilman George Bartunek, was born in Astoria on Aug. 5, 1911, to an Austrian immigrant whose grandmother had paid his fare to come to America. The father moved his family to the area of Marcy Avenue and Parkway Street, where Alvin Bartunek still lives. "He was in the wholesale flower business and found a place here with good water and access to a rail line to get his flowers to market," he said, adding he carried on his father's business.
He remembered Marcy Avenue "as just a wagon track with horses' hooves chopping up the road." His ambition to be a firefighter was kindled by watching men at work fighting blazes.
"They didn't keep people as far away from fires in those days," Mr. Bartunek said, describing fires as community events where people showed up either to lend a hand or just watch. "My father woke me at four in the morning when the courthouse was burning on Griffing Avenue in 1926."
His most memorable event as a firefighter was when the wooden school on Roanoke Avenue was totally devastated in 1938, striking a tragic blow to the community. "It was built in 1912 and was the most modern school building east of Brooklyn," the firefighter said.
He never was injured and "can't remember" any of his colleagues being seriously hurt. "We were a bunch of sensible guys, and when you got down to brass tacks we were all pretty knowledgeable," he said, adding that training was good in his day "but nowadays they really train."
Another memory that came to mind was bringing two puppies back from the dead. "There was this fire in some buildings near where the high school is now and when we got it turned around, two poor puppies were pulled away and laid out," Mr. Bartunek remembered. "I gently put my boot on their flat stomachs, and by giving them a few pumps each they were soon up and running around."
A simple rescue, but "it could have been some kids' puppies, so we saved them for someone," he said.
His wife died in January at age 91, and his daughter, Diana, currently is visiting from Colorado. His son visits every day but when his daughter returns home the firefighter will be on his own again.
"I don't get lonesome," he said, adding that he's a happy man. "I cook pretty good, and prefer to eat in because I can eat when and where I want and the service is always good." |
