Day Seven: Oversight
Here is the link to day 7 of the Newsday.com series on Long Island firefighting. Day 7 focuses on the oversight of the firefighting agencies.
Over the past 50 years, Long Island's network of small-town volunteer fire departments has evolved into a vast enterprise, yet four out of five fire agencies here answer to no higher level of government about the way they spend money or deliver lifesaving services.Long Island volunteers preside over $1 billion in buildings and equipment, cost more than $319 million a year, administer 120 pension funds and protect 2.7-million citizens. Yet the state comptroller hasn't audited a Long Island fire district since 2001, and how volunteer departments raise and spend donations from the public is exempt from the supervision most other not-for-profit groups receive from the state attorney general.
In a rural area, oversight isn't a big issue, but I can see where this would be a serious problem when the departments have so much in assets.
Day 8 focuses on what is next for the LI firefighters, but I can't get the link to the article. As soon as their links are working, I'll post on it.
