Fire Districts Elect Commissioners Tuesday

Throughout Long Island on Tuesday, voters will go to the polls to elect fire district commissioners whose job it is to oversee tax dollars that are spent on fire services, emergency medical care, and other district duties.

In the Town of East Hampton, the only fire district with a race is in the Bridgehampton Fire District, which serves parts of Wainscott in the township, in addition to Sagaponack, Bridgehampton and parts of Water Mill in the Town of Southampton.

Two longtime Bridgehampton Fire Department volunteers, Tom Dombkowski, who was appointed as a commissioner in September, and Philip Cammann, the department's only paramedic, are vying for one seat on the board.

Dombkowski, a Sagaponack resident, and Cammann, a Bridgehampton resident, are looking to fulfill the last two years of John Muse's unexpired term.

Meanwhile, Dean Foster, a Sagaponack resident and a former firefighter, is running for full five-year seat on the Bridgehampton Fire District Board of Fire Commissioners. Since September, he has filled a vacancy left by Jeffrey Louchheim, whose term was up at the end of this year. Foster, the son of a former longtime commissioner Cliff Foster, is running uncontested for that seat.

Voting will take place at the Bridgehampton Fire Department on Tuesday between 6 and 9 p.m. All registered voters living in the fire district are eligible to cast a ballot.

Candidates in the three other fire districts within the Town of East Hampton are running unopposed, barring any write-in campaigns. East Hampton and Sag Habor fire departments are not overseen by fire commissioners, but instead by the village government.

Michael Benton is running for a full five-year term on the Springs board of fire commissioners. Benton, who works at Bistrian Materials, is a firefighter and an emergency medical technician in the Springs Fire Department. In May, he was honored as firefighter of the year.

The position was held by Bruce Bates, who decided not to seek re-election after two terms on the board.

Voters in Springs can head to the polls at the firehouse on Tuesday between 6 and 9 p.m.

In Amagansett, William Vorpahl Jr. is looking to keep his seat on the board. Vorpahl is a mechanic at T&B Auto in Amagansett.

Voting in Amagansett takes place at the firehouse between 6 and 9 p.m.

And in Montauk, Carmine Marino, the only member of the Montauk Fire District Board of Fire Commissioners who is not a member of the fire department, is running for his second term.

Marino, an environmental engineer with the county, said there are a few more projects he'd like to see finished before he feels his work as a fire commissioner is done. Among them is a plan to bring some savings to district taxpayers by installing solar panels on the roof of the firehouse.

Voting in Montauk takes place at the firehouse on Tuesday between 2 and 9 p.m.