Firefighters have sounded an alarm to City officials citing the insufficient manning in the Englewood Fire Department. On numerous occasions over the past year, The Englewood Firefighters Union has informed city officials that the current minimum manning is insufficient, and places firefighters and citizens in a dangerous situation when they are called to duty. The current minimum manning is two Officer (supervisor) & six firefighters; this is far below national standards that are in place by The National Fire Protection Association, which recommends a minimum of 17 firefighters on duty.

Firefighter Safety

Firefighters are trained to always work in teams, seldom does this happen. The reality is that the two officer and six firefighters place firefighters and the public at jeopardy. Over the past couple of years firefighter injuries show the dangers of this. At one incident a firefighter became disorientated and was seriously injured causing him to leave the job on disability.

Another incident a firefighter was operating at the rear of the building on a ladder, the ladder slipped causing a fall. A civilian reported the firefighters fall because he was working on his own. The firefighter suffered a back injury as a result of the fall.

With a minimum of six firefighters there are tasks that must be completed that are left uncompleted or delayed due to the insufficient manning. Firefighters not only work alone in completing tasks, they take on additional task loads.

Furthermore the current manning does not allow additional calls to be answered in a safe manor. Additional calls are responded to with 2-3 members, most of the time these members are unsupervised. This is not acceptable to any standards, and it’s a disaster waiting to happen.

OSHA 2 In 2 Out

OSHA 2 in 2 out law that was developed as a safe guard for firefighters. This law is not effectively in place. As the procedure stands now the 2 members that are supposed to stay outside the building to act as a RIT team to rescue a trapped firefighter have to desert their assignment and start rescue efforts. The assignments they leave are establishing water supply and the pump operator, what are the ramifications to this? Their jobs are two of the most important jobs on the fire ground, with out water the fire cannot be contained, or held in place while the rescue efforts are ongoing. The current department policy needs to be addressed immediately.

Comparison

So how do we stack against our neighbors? For comparison we use the four career departments in Bergen County & Staten Island. See the chart below.

RESOURCES RESPONDING TO A REPORTED STRUCTURE FIRE

*Staten Island manning for a reported fire in a private house is represented in above chart.

As you can see our manning is cut in half in comparison to other departments in the county.

Tasks

Below is a chart of tasks that need to be completed at a fire. It compares Englewood Fire Department at minimum manning to the national standards.

Other Factors

Redevelopment

Englewood is in the midst of a building boom. There are several sites being redeveloped and new buildings are constructed at a very fast pace. While this is good for the city, it does strain the services thinner. While there are impact studies completed, they are done on a per project basis. An impact study has not been done for the overall construction boom.

Population & Population Density.

Population and population density have an impact on manning, what is overseen in this aspect is that while Englewood has a smaller population, Englewood life hazards are similar to the other communities. What does this mean? Lets use the hospital for example, Hackensack and Teaneck these departments have double the manning on an initial for a reported fire at the hospital. While all the departments will request mutual aid (request for surrounding towns to send help) Englewood FD will operate with 8 firefighters until help arrives. The average response for mutual aid is 10 minutes.

News Articles

3-Dec-06 – Bergen Record Union: Fire unit staffing too thin

5-Jul-06 – Suburbanite Editorial on Hudson Ave Report & Staffing

Suburbanite Article on Hudson Ave Report

26-Apr-06 – NJ Division of Fire Safety Release Fire Injury Report

12-Dec-03 – Hudson Ave, Englewood.

How You Can Help Us

The firefighters empathize with the community in regards to property tax, and the burden this will have on the city’s budget, but this issue cannot be skirted any longer. It places both the residents and the firefighter in danger. Firefighting is an inheritable dangerous job; please help us by contacting the elected officials and urging the to take action on this issue immediately.

Mayor
Mayor Michael Wildes
250 Allison Ct
Englewood, NJ 07631
Tel (201) 569-7891
mayor@michaelwildes.com

First Ward Councilman
Ken Rosenzweig
143 Booth Ave
Englewood, NJ 07631
(201) 568-0171

Second Ward Councilwoman
Charlotte Bennett Schoen
337 Audubon Ave
Englewood, NJ 07631
(201) 567-1716

Third Ward Councilman
Scott Reddin
338 Lantana Ave
Englewood, NJ 07631
(201) 871-9352

Fourth Ward Councilman
Jack Drakeford
2-10 N. Van Brunt Street
Englewood, NJ 07631

Councilman At Large
Gordon Johnson
387 Murray Ave
Englewood, NJ 07631
Tel (201) 567-2231