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Sharing Almost 5 Decades of Experience
By Firefighter Wendy Liu
March 11, 2010
In 1962 Dominick Catera began his firefighting career as a New York City fireman, where he achieved Rank of Captain before retiring in 1979. Dominick's volunteer spirit led him to join the Sayville Fire Department as a volunteer firefighter in 1968, where he has selflessly dedicated his time for over 40 years.
One thing Catera's fellow firefighters will always appreciate about him is his enthusiasm for sharing his knowledge and experience with those around him. Dominick was one of the most knowledgeable people around in pump hydraulics and early generation extrication equipment and shared his wealth of knowledge with his fellow career and volunteer firefighters. Throughout his fire career, Dominick's passion was firefighter training. He has been both a field and classroom instructor for the Suffolk County Fire Academy for over 40 years. Catera still takes pride in proctoring exams and teaching classes when needed.
Dominick has been involved in several rescues throughout his firefighting career. Every firefighter hopes to be prepared when the day comes that they are called upon to use their training and experience to save a life. Dominick was prepared when called upon to do just that and experienced the rush of finding several trapped adults and children throughout the years at fires in Sayville. He was even awarded The Medal of Valor from the Suffolk County Fire Academy for his involvement in rescuing a couple from a boarding house in 1988.
He also experienced the sadness of having some of those rescued victims pass away within days or weeks. To this day, he still gets emotional about a pre-teen boy that he found during a search at a Sayville house fire he believes was the hottest he had ever been in. He found the boy and handed him off to another firefighter while he and a fellow firefighter dragged his father out. Dominick and another firefighter revived the child in the back of a Police car on the way to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital. Unfortunately, that boy lived three days before succumbing to his injuries.
Although Catera is long retired as Captain of the New York City Fire Department, he is still active in the Sayville Fire Department. He may not be an interior firefighter anymore, but he still lends a hand on the scene when needed and is always enthusiastic about sharing his experience and knowledge with other members.
During nearly five decades of fire service, Dominick has seen significant changes. He believes that the advancement in technology has allowed members of the fire service to be better equipped resulting in more efficient and safe firefighting and that they are better trained as they have been afforded the benefit of a wide range of training opportunities which include firefighting, communications, safety and leadership skills to name a few.
A story about Dominick wouldn't be complete without mentioning that his volunteer spirit reaches beyond the Sayville Fire Department. He also volunteers at St. John's Church in Bohemia and as an animal lover, he wakes up at 5:30 every single morning and lovingly tends to his animal friends.
Dominick resides in Sayville with his wife Carole, to whom he has been married to for over 50 years.
