EAST MEADOW (NY) If you are lucky, you had a fire instructor like Chief Nelson Finkelman...who you consider a friend for life. We belatedly pass on to those who are not aware that Chief Nelson H. Finkelman, a 56-year veteran of the East Meadow (Nassau County, Long Island, NY), died on Oct. 2 of complications of a stroke. He was 83. Chief Finkelman, born Feb. 11, 1930, joined East Meadow FD in 1958 as a member of Ladder Company 2, and he rose to Chief of Department in 1967. He was a Nassau County Fire Marshal Supervisor, a Chief Instructor at the Nassau County Fire Service Academy and a board member and fundraiser for the Nassau County Firefighters Burn Center Foundation that supports the Nassau University Medical Centers burn unit. As a young Firefighter in the early 70s, Chief Finkelman was our lead instructor at the Nassau County Fire Service Academy, and talk about no BS. Wow. He was pure business ...and when you are a rookie-thats whats needed-tough, no nonsense instructors giving you the facts-and making you do it over and over until you got it right and couldnt get it wrong. He had a life lasting impact on those youngsters of us going through that simulated basement fire on that one evening that I will never forget...which, back then, was a nasty, well involved, thick, black smoke, fuel pan fed fire. And if you didnt do it correctly. he ordered us to do it over and over. When we finally did what Chief Finkelman expected, he would have us do it again. Not for any other reason than to insure we understood engine ops in a basement fire-in the 1970s. A hot, sticky, summer night...his mission was to teach us-nothing else mattered. He was an instructor and Chief who definitely got it. he took care of us by teaching us how to take care of ourselves in that basement, in the dwelling, in the taxpayer and the multi-family. Like they do, years passed and we saw each other from time to time - then one day, at a fire conference, in the back of my classroom, was sitting Chief Finkelman. First staring. Holy sh!t was my internal response. Then smiling. In the words of EMFD Fire Commissioner (and former Chief) Michael Finkelman, who followed in his Dads firefighting footsteps, Anyone who knew my father, he said, you had a friend for life. And you couldnt have a better friend in the world. Hopefully, each of you have memories of a great Instructor, Officer or Chief who mattered, one who also became a friend of yours, for life. RIP. Thanks Chief. Take Care. Be Careful. Pass It On. BillyG The Secret List 10-12-13 / 1922 Hours FireFighterCloseCalls
Posted on: Mon, 14 Oct 2013 04:49:05 +0000
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