A Conversation with Will Jakubowski of the Elmont Bangtails

by Dan Laverty

This is a conversation is Will Jakubowski of the Elmont Bangtails. Will is currently still recovering from injuries sustained during a practice run late in the 2011 season. I wanted to conduct this so that people would get the chance to get to know Will and better understand him. I sat with Will, his girlfriend Stephanie, his parents Debbie and Robert, Will's therapist from the Brady Institute at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and family friend Gary Brower at the William St. George Drill. I got to know them a little bit and had a great time sitting with them. We exchanged stories about how we got into Firematic Drilling. Will and I have a lot in common, both of our Fathers raced and we both went on to race ourselves. The Jakubowskis are a great family and were a pleasure to watch some of the drill with. This conversation took place via e-mail between myself, Will and his mother Debbie

DL:  How old are you?

WJ:  28

DL:  Single/Married?

WJ:  Single and currently dating Stephanie

DL:  Pets?

WJ:  None of my own but I have cat-napped my neighbor’s cat that hangs around our house. I feed it and it brings me all the mice it kills. The cat is always at our glass doors looking for me. We have seven acres and there is a lot of wildlife out there. We feed the deer, birds, wild turkeys and pheasants. I enjoy the quiet of the country.

DL:  Favorite TV show?

WJ:  At night after a long day of therapy I like to watch the Wheel of Fortune and Two and a Half Men on TV. I usually head off to bed around 9 but talk on the phone with Stephanie for a while. I'm sleeping less now but still need 9 hours a night. The brain only heals when you are sleeping.

DL:  Favorite activities (besides racing)?

WJ:  My hobbies are mostly firematic related. Cold-water rescue, Haz-Mat, drill team and I love those signal 10s. I've started doing some fresh water fishing with my life-skills therapist. It's fun but nothing big here in the streams. I did catch a crawfish last week. Where our house is it's really rural. I walk the hill and go visit the neighbor’s goat and sheep farm. The farm is about a mile up the road. My sister, Donna lives outside of Syracuse, NY. Donna and her boyfriend Matt raise Black Angus cows. A new calf was born this week. I wish she lived closer so I could help her with her farm.

DL:  Were you a Junior Fireman?

WJ:  I was about six when the Lawrence Cedarhurst Fire Department started up a Junior Fire Dept. They hadn't had one for a years and now there was a whole group of young kids who fathers belonged to LC. I ran on the Junior Drill Team for years. We really only went to Battalion drills, nothing big. I was Lieutenant and then Captain. I learned a lot from the guys at LC. They really showed me around the trucks and the equipment. When I was old enough to join they didn't have a drill team and had sold the B-Truck a while back to Levittown. I joined Elmont to the disappointment of a lot of the guys at LC but Elmont has a good relationship with LC and we help each other out with fast teams and mutual aides so all is good.

DL:  What was your first drill?

WJ:  As a teenager I used to ride my bike to North Woodmere Park to watch the Bangtails practice. I would sit up in the bleachers. I loved the sound of the truck racing down the track. I would go to the races when I could usually with Gary Brower. I was still too young to drive. I started getting friendly with the members of the Bangtails. I was about 14 or so when they invited me to go to the State Drill with the team. I rode up with them in the van to Main-Transit. The next year they invited me to go up to Deerfield. I rode up with Jimmy McCarron, the team driver at the time, in the tractor trailer hauling the rigs and equipment. What a thrill it was! I remember them dropping me off at home on Cedarhurst Ave. in Cedarhurst around midnight or 1am lights and sirens. Guess we woke some neighbors that night.

DL:  Do you have family members who were members of a drill team?

WJ:  My dad and Uncle Mike ran on the Screech Owls back in the 80's. My Uncle Billy ran back in the 60's. No helmets back then. The Screech Owls of Lawrence Cedarhurst only had a B-Truck. I guess racing was in their blood and now it's in mine. I grew up in the fire department. My dad belongs to LC for over 40 years and was Fireman of the Year in 2011. He received the award while I was in the hospital so I didn't get to see him receive it. My Uncle Mike was Chief of LC when I was a little boy. We lived next to each other and he gave me an old Home Alert radio for my bedroom. I was only about 3 at the time. During the night when the radio went off I was outside in the chief's car before he got out of the house waiting to go, still in my pajamas. He even forgot me at a call one day and the truck radioed him to say I was on the curb. I got to ride the truck back that day. Glad my mom wasn't listening to the radio…we would both been in trouble. My Uncle Mike bought me my first set of turn-out gear for my 3rd birthday. I lived in it.

DL:  How old were you when you joined the Elmont Fire Department?

WJ:  I first joined Elmont the month I turned 18 which was in June of 2002. I was assigned to Engine 702. I joined the Bangtails and ran Efficiency, Motor Pump and Buckets. I left Elmont for a couple of years when I moved to Putnum Valley and joined the fire department there. It wasn't long before I moved back to Long Island and rejoined Elmont and ran with the Bangtails again. I begged Brain Schriefer to let me jump off the back of the B-Truck and C-Rig. It wasn't long before I was running 3-Man ladder and B and C Hose.
DL:  What rank have you achieved as a member of the department?
WJ:  At the time of the accident I held the office of Second Lieutenant in the Elmont Fire Department and was the Captain of the Haz-Mat team.


DL:  What is your favorite event?
WJ:  My favorite is C-Hose. It's a long, fast run.
DL:  What is your greatest memory as a member of the Bangtails?
WJ:  The greatest moment for me was the Nassau County Drill in 2011 when the Bangtails took second place in the drill. We won lots of trophies that day. The best were first place in 3-Man, and B and C Hose. I ran in those events. We had 17 points going into the last two events. Motor Pump and Buckets are not our best events. We couldn't catch up to first place but we took second. It was a great. We were hot that day!!

DL:  What event would you like to see run besides the Big 8?
WJ:  I saw Motor Hose Replacement run up in Deerfield in June of this year. I live about an hour from there so my mom drove me up to see the drill. It was different from any event I've ever seen, I thought it was pretty cool.
DL:  Where do you like State Drills to be held? Upstate or Long Island?
WJ:  Wherever the NYS drills are run, if upstate or on L.I., they draw a good crowd. It's a long day but it's worth it.

DL:  What are your thoughts on the recent changes to the C-trucks (smaller tires and hubs)? What are your thoughts on the recent rule regarding helmets having to be DOT certified?

WJ:  The changes made to Drill Team racing this year I guess is a good thing. Everyone needs to be safe but drill team racing in my eyes was always safe. Better helmets, that's good too. I haven't tried one on yet so I really can't say that much about them. I wore a hockey helmet and was wearing it the night of the accident. I'd like to get it back when the investigation is over. I don't remember the accident at all and have lost a period of about 2 months. I don't really know much about the changes to drill team racing. I do know from what I've been told is the accident was due to mechanical failure. Mike, our driver, is excellent and well-skilled and I'm sure he did everything right that night. He gives you a good ride and if he had an indication that something was wrong with the rig before the run we wouldn't have been on it. I blame no one and nor does my family. I'm glad my teammates weren't seriously hurt and have returned to fire fighting. I will too in time.

DL:  Would you like to talk about what happened to you last August?

WJ:  I was a patient at JHMC (Jamaica Hospital Medical Center) in Jamaica, Queens for 3 months. I awoke from my coma 9 days after the accident but remained in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit for another month. I had procedures to drain the blood from my brain and a pressure probe to monitor my brain pressure. I also had procedures for a trache, feeding tube and a mesh strainer placed in the main artery to my heart to prevent any blood clots from entering my heart. I also received 3 pints of blood and had 3 seizures. A broken clavicle and index finger were the least of my problems. As sick as I was, I hated the trache and had to have my hands tied to the bed because I constantly tried to pull out the tubes. I was transferred at the end of September to The Brady Institute for Traumatic Brain Injury at JHMC. It is the number one center in NYS to treat head injuries. I remained there in acute care for 56 days and was never without support from my family and my fellow firefighters from Elmont, Lawrence-Cedarhurst and across L.I. I'm told that my family was very well cared for while I was so critical. They never felt abandoned or that they were in this alone. West Hempstead Fire Dept. held a blood drive in my honor for which I'm very thankful for. During my time in the Brady Institute I had to learn to sit-up, stand, walk, speak and eat again. I have amazed my doctors, nurses and therapists and continue to do so. I never once gave up and am now running again. Speech is still a problem but I'm working hard on improving it. They say I have some cognitive issues yet but I think I'm doing well. I feel a lot better.

On November 20th 2011, 4 days before Thanksgiving, I walked out of JHMC in my Class-A uniform carrying my helmet. The halls were filled with members of the Elmont and Lawrence Cedarhurst Fire Depts., family and friends. They brought trucks and chief cars to the hospital and had a whole procession back to Elmont with lights and sirens. At the fire house we had a big lunch with food and cake.

Late that afternoon the Elmont Fire Dept. transported me to our family home in Sloansville, NY where my mom lives. I will continue out-patient therapy at Sunnyview Rehab in Schenectady, NY. I receive PT, OT, Speech, Aqua, life-skills and running therapies 5 days a week between Sunnyview, Albany Medical Center and Russell Sage College TBI program. This has been my life for the past almost 11 months. I am told that I was given about 12 hours to live and 3 Priests gave me Last Rites.
DL:  Do you regret ever having joined the drill team and racing?

WJ:  I never regret for a minute running on the drill team. I understand Elmont needed a year off to regroup and re-focus. The accident hit everyone hard. We'll be back so don't count us out yet. We were a good team. We practice hard and we do our best on race day.
DL:  What are some of the Bangtails sayings or Mottos?

WJ:  Our team motto is "Give it Hell for the Old Man" It's written on the B-Truck.

DL:  Do you have a Fire Department/Drill team T-Shirt collection?

WJ:  I have received many, many, well-wishes from the drill teams across LI and NYS. Many departments sent T-Shirts with messages written on them. Some shirts came from as far away as North Carolina. I've received about 150 Fire Department and team shirts I am very appreciative of everyone’s thoughts, visits and prayers.

DL:  I know that racing is in your heart and will always be a part of your life. What do you want to do in the future in regards to racing? (Officiate, Coach, Race,)

WJ:  I look forward to getting back everything I lost due to my injuries and running with my team again.

DL:  That’s great to hear. We all wish you the best and thanks for taking the time to talk with me.

WJ:  Thank you, Dan.