Tonya Halsey Schunk Elected as First Woman to Westhampton Beach Fire Commissioners Board

Tonya Halsey Schunk has been elected to the Board of Fire Commissioners for the Westhampton Beach Fire District, becoming the first woman to serve on the board.

“I’m just very excited to that the community came out and showed their support,” Schunk said. “It was very overwhelming with all the support that I got.

“But I don’t dwell on that. I know there’s people that like, ‘Oh my God, you’re the first female that did that.’ That’s not me. I did it because I want to do it. I did it because I think I could be an asset,” Schunk added.

Schunk won the seat by about 50 votes after a longtime commissioner opted not to seek reelection. The board consists of five members and oversees operations and budgeting for the district.

A member of the Westhampton Beach Fire Department for 33 years, Schunk also previously made history as the department’s first female officer, serving as a lieutenant in the late 1990s. She later held the rank of captain and has served on multiple department committees.

In addition to her fire service, Schunk is a retired member of the Westhampton Ambulance, where she volunteered for 12 years and worked as an EMT for several of them.

She currently works as a patient access registrar in the emergency department at Peconic Bay Medical Center, a position she has held for 25 years.

“Working in in the medical field, and then going home and delivering patients back to work got to be a little too much,” Schunk said. “I chose to retire from the ambulance, and then just keep going with the fire department.”

Schunk said she has attended board meetings for years and decided to run when the opportunity became available. She plans to focus on encouraging broader member involvement in projects and reviewing how funds are allocated.

Schunk comes from a family with deep ties to the department; her father, Wilmun Halsey, has been a member for more than five decades. Her husband, Darryl Schunk, is a two-time ex chief and former commissioner. Her father-in-law, Robert Schunk, is an ex-chief, and her brother-in-law, Allan Schunk, is an ex-assistant chief.

“There are many years of service in our families,” Schunk said. “I was a firehouse brat. I grew up with the department, and then when I was in my twenties, I was back home after college and bored. So I had asked my dad, ‘Do you mind if I join the fire department?’ He’s like, ‘Absolutely, go ahead.’ So I got two ex chiefs to sign my application, and I joined and I went to fire school, and next thing you know, I became a lieutenant, then I became a captain, and then I got out of the officers ranks.”

The Westhampton Beach Fire Department was established in 1953, and its Board of Commissioners was established in 2003.