Commack Fire Commissioner Returns Home Touched By Newtown Tragedy

Commack is hundreds of miles away from Newton, Conn. where news broke last Friday that a school shooting had killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. In the aftermath, hundreds of volunteers and well-wishers has poured into the town and in doing so, its impact has touched their lives as well. 

Commack Fire Commissioner Patrick Fazio said he went up to Newtown to visit and give support to the shooting's first responders. 

"I have a genuine concern for the first responders. Being a retired cop, I've seen a lot. But what they saw, the carnage in the school, was unbelievable," Fazio said. 

The fire commissioner said he spent time talking to the volunteer members of Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue and cops, both at the the firehouse and the at the school turned crime scene. 

"One cop put it best, he said 'The devil visited here'," Fazio said. 

In walking around the small, quaint New England town of Newtown, the fire commissioner said he couldn't help but compare it to Commack. It's a small town whose fire department consists of volunteers, never prepared for what unfolded last Friday. 

Read More: Commmack Fire Department To Sound Alarms for Newtown Victims Friday. 

"To see what they saw - these are family men. They are fathers, uncles and have little ones- the things that go through their mind. They can’t get rid of their images and they are going to need help," he said. 

Fazio said the images that he will forever carry with him are the memorials that have sprouted and grown to cover 'nearly every corner of town.' There have been thousands of stuffed animals, flowers, cards and signs put out in memory of those who were killed. 

Those particularly haunting are the memorials for the 20 elementary school children, average age between 6 and 7. 

"Words can’t describe it to see the memorials to these children. It’s focused around these 20 little angels who didn’t have a chance to live their life," Fazio said. "It’s tough to be there and not be emotional." 

These memorials, he said, have served as a way to bring the community together, banding it together to get through their loss shortly before the holiday season.

On Friday, Commack Fire Department will participate in a national commemoration of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting by sounding their siren 26 times - once for each victim - at 9:45 a.m. on Friday morning. The act is meant as a remembrance for the victims as well as honoring those first responders who have seen and suffered horrific scenes of the tragedy first hand. 

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