Neighbors of the Amityville Fire Department say the 105-decibel fire alarm that was recently reactivated is ruining their quality of life.

For eight years, the siren at the fire house was silent because a nearby family demonstrated how it had contributed to their child's hearing problems. However, the alarm was reactivated after the family moved away in July.

Larry Tullar, of Amityville, says "It's very onerous to my health because I have a coronary condition and it also instigates migraines, which I also have as a result of this."

Fire Chief Arthur Smith says the alarm, which is sounded about 1,500 times a year, was reactivated because his volunteers were missing calls and putting lives at risk.

"When a person's calling us we don't take it as a little thing," Smith says. "It could be a false alarm; it could be a heart attack; it could be a child's not breathing."

Suffolk County Fire Commissioner Joe Williams says beepers and cell phones, which residents would prefer the fire departments rely on, don't always work.

There is room for compromise, Mayor Peter Imbert says. A full-time paid EMT would cut emergency siren use by about 90 percent, he says, but June 2008 is the earliest one could be hired.