Cameras to be replaced, upgraded in Huntington fire district
The Huntington Manor Fire Department Headquarters in Huntington Station, as seen on Tuesday. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
Surveillance cameras — some decades old — inside and around the exterior of Huntington Manor Fire District buildings are getting an upgrade.
State Sen. Jim Gaughran (D-Northport) recently secured $90,000 in state funds for the district to install and upgrade security cameras and equipment on its three properties.
The cameras will be placed inside district buildings and outside facing the street. Christopher Fusaro, Huntington Manor Fire District board of commissioners chairman, said the money will cover a little over 50% of the cost to replace and upgrade 90 cameras installed across the district’s three buildings.
"We’re grateful to receive money to update our cameras which are over 20 years old, many of which are analog," Fusaro said.
The inside cameras are used to monitor people going in and out of the buildings, including vendors. The district has two buildings on New York Avenue and a third on Totten Court, which are all in Huntington Station.
This brings to $270,000 in state funding that Gaughran has gotten for Huntington Station and the Huntington Business Improvement District for security cameras since last year. He was able to procure $180,000 for 19 new surveillance cameras for Huntington Station in 2019. The money comes from the State and Municipal Facilities Program.
Gaughran, who is running for reelection in November, said the money will help the district to avoid raising fire district taxes for much needed improvements.
"The districts collect taxes, so I’m really thrilled when we can find state money that we can give back to communities," he said.
Fusaro said 24-hour dispatchers monitor the cameras and that footage is recorded and sometimes used by the Suffolk County Police Department.
"The Suffolk PD has relied on us before for incidents in front of the fire house so we were going to do the upgrades no matter what because they needed to be upgraded," Fusaro said. "The grant helps us because we don’t have to take as much money out of our budget."
The district serves approximately 13 square miles of Huntington Station, Huntington, and Dix Hills. It covers more than 17,000 residential homes and more than 2,000 commercial businesses.
The camera installation is expected to be completed within the next three weeks, a representative from Gaughran's office said.
