Guest Hot Posted January 7, 2011 Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 While I see the advantage of having a West Hudson Regional Fire Department I have some views on why it should be different. First off if you had a 3 Volunteer FD's vs 1 Large Volunteer FD's the cost is pretty much the same. Chiefs of volunteer FD's don't receive much more compensation then a regular Firefighter. In East Newark according to the Boro Ordinance the Chief receives a $625 a year clothing allowance and a regular firefighter receives $400 per year. A whole difference of $225. In North Arlington according to the Boro Ordinance a firefighter receives $700 per year and the Chief receives $1400. Also not a substantial difference. In Lyndhurst all I can find is firefighters receive a clothing allowance of $225. It's also mentioned they are enrolled in a LOSAP program. (which is like a special retirement account) Volunteer firefighters don't receive any sort of salary they only receive the clothing allowance. (In this immediate area) Having 3 volunteer fire chiefs vs. 1 volunteer fire chief is really no different. As for the West Hudson Regional FD you propose I do not believe if it ever happened it should be all volunteer. It should be a combination department. A large group of paid firefighter supplemented by a volunteer base. If you had a Regional FD you would only need 1 Fire Chief and 5 Deputy Chiefs and 1 training officer. Right now Harrison and Kearny each have 1 Fire Chief Kearny has 5 Deputy Chiefs and Harrison has 4 Battalion Chiefs and each have their own training officer. This is where we would see the most savings in having a merged department. Kearny Station 1 could be made a volunteer engine. Kearny Station 2, 3 and 4 should remain paid with 3 Engine's and 2 Ladder Co's. Harrison HQ should be a combo station with a paid Ladder with 2 paid EMS units and 2 Volunteer Engines. Harrison Cleveland Ave Station should be a paid Engine. East Newark would be 2 Volunteer Engines and a Volunteer Ladder. (This would be my plan if I were put in charge of it) A merge makes the most sense for Kearny and Harrison but not so much East Newark unless they would receive more money for their department. But Kearny and Harrison could most certainly merge down the road and just cut down on overhead. I could only see East Newark getting sucked in because they would be a volunteer department stuck in the middle of a regional department. On an interesting side note Harrison and East Newark merged their Dispatch as reported on www.nj.com and it went into effect yesterday. Harrison and East Newark to Merge Emergency Dispatch Kearny should jump on board as well with that plan. Then we could save some real money with civilian dispatchers. In some towns the resident volunteers are exempt from property tax. Thier pay and incentive to serve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc13mets Posted January 7, 2011 Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 You clearly want to be a fire fighter which is a great thing. But even with the points for being a volunteer isnt a given. What needs to be done is fight the NAACP (easier said than done). They are the reason why Kearny and Harrison had to open up their lists to both Hudson and Essex counties. As for merging if you are going to do it, do it right off the bat. North Hudson Regional is still a mess and they have been in operation since 1999. I'm not 100% sure but I think its costing the tax payers more money then when all 5 departments were separate, and they are down well over 100 men since that merger went into effect. They even closed 3 more companies just a few months back. Yeah tell me about it. NAACP has made it almost impossible for people like myself. Lifetime resident with no military veterans preference. But at least I would be pretty much at the top after the veterans. You are right. North Hudson isn't as successful as it was promised to be. But Kearny and Harrison to me is a much simpler matter. The savings alone on cutting 1 Chief, 4 DC/Battalions (Kearny has DC while Harrison has BC) and 1 training officer would be about a million between the two towns once you factor Health Care/Pension also. North Hudson actually hasn't hired in a number of years because they currently have a injunction forcing them to hire off a Bergen, Hudson and Essex list thanks to the NCAAP. They are still fighting it and Administration has been quoted as saying "They will never hire off that list." Hey at least they are fighting which is more then I can say for what Kearny did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc13mets Posted January 7, 2011 Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 In some towns the resident volunteers are exempt from property tax. Thier pay and incentive to serve. Oh yeah? That would be real nice. So far from what I've seen Paramus has the best deal for Volunteers. If you make 40% of calls in a given month you recieve a stipend of $500 for that month. Plus your yearly clothing allowance + free involving in REC for your children + free memebership at the town Pool and I think a deal at the Golf Course. I was actually shocked to find that Paramus had volunteers considering all the commercial they have. But from what I understand it works cause most of the DPW are volunteers, so durning the day if the alarm goes off they drop whatever work they have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 7, 2011 Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 If Harrison gave even a 50% property tax exemption to volunteer fireman, the line to sign up would look like the crowd filing into Giants Stadium for a playoff game. Only the Jets are in this year so avoid stupid comments. People in wheelchairs would even be on the line. That's one of the best ideas I've heard yet. It would save million$. The residents would even do a better job because its their own or a neibors property, they live there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BlueTideBacker Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 Oh yeah? That would be real nice. So far from what I've seen Paramus has the best deal for Volunteers. If you make 40% of calls in a given month you recieve a stipend of $500 for that month. Plus your yearly clothing allowance + free involving in REC for your children + free memebership at the town Pool and I think a deal at the Golf Course. I was actually shocked to find that Paramus had volunteers considering all the commercial they have. But from what I understand it works cause most of the DPW are volunteers, so durning the day if the alarm goes off they drop whatever work they have. I can see this in Harrison. Every thief, misfit, druggie and wino would want to be a volunteer. Remember the old saying; "Be careful what you ask for". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc13mets Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 I can see this in Harrison. Every thief, misfit, druggie and wino would want to be a volunteer. Remember the old saying; "Be careful what you ask for". You do have to pass a background check you know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 The misfits, druggies, and winos, in my opinion, are already working as fireman in Harrison so whats he difference. You should already know this by the HFD's refusal to be drug tested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Seriously, you are going to bullshit the people of Harrison that the overpaid HFD trains every day. Where? When? Can anyone in Hudson county ever say that they saw this alleged training in progess. I have seen the engines go to the credit union and to Kearny to buy groceries. Thats it. Is this the training you are talking about? Your statement of saying that the HFD trains everyday is about the same as the claim that there were almost 280 fires in the year 2008 in Harrison. No credibility at all. Let the residents know about the daily where, when, and time of this daily everyday rigorous training so they can watch this grand spectacle of life saving and be amazed at your skill level. Yeah, right! LOL, ahahahahahaha!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BlueTideBacker Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 You do have to pass a background check you know. The only background check is to see if you have a police record. Not every thief, druggie, wino and misfit has been arrested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest resident Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 While I see the advantage of having a West Hudson Regional Fire Department I have some views on why it should be different. First off if you had a 3 Volunteer FD's vs 1 Large Volunteer FD's the cost is pretty much the same. Chiefs of volunteer FD's don't receive much more compensation then a regular Firefighter. In East Newark according to the Boro Ordinance the Chief receives a $625 a year clothing allowance and a regular firefighter receives $400 per year. A whole difference of $225. In North Arlington according to the Boro Ordinance a firefighter receives $700 per year and the Chief receives $1400. Also not a substantial difference. In Lyndhurst all I can find is firefighters receive a clothing allowance of $225. It's also mentioned they are enrolled in a LOSAP program. (which is like a special retirement account) Volunteer firefighters don't receive any sort of salary they only receive the clothing allowance. (In this immediate area) Having 3 volunteer fire chiefs vs. 1 volunteer fire chief is really no different. As for the West Hudson Regional FD you propose I do not believe if it ever happened it should be all volunteer. It should be a combination department. A large group of paid firefighter supplemented by a volunteer base. If you had a Regional FD you would only need 1 Fire Chief and 5 Deputy Chiefs and 1 training officer. Right now Harrison and Kearny each have 1 Fire Chief Kearny has 5 Deputy Chiefs and Harrison has 4 Battalion Chiefs and each have their own training officer. This is where we would see the most savings in having a merged department. Kearny Station 1 could be made a volunteer engine. Kearny Station 2, 3 and 4 should remain paid with 3 Engine's and 2 Ladder Co's. Harrison HQ should be a combo station with a paid Ladder with 2 paid EMS units and 2 Volunteer Engines. Harrison Cleveland Ave Station should be a paid Engine. East Newark would be 2 Volunteer Engines and a Volunteer Ladder. (This would be my plan if I were put in charge of it) A merge makes the most sense for Kearny and Harrison but not so much East Newark unless they would receive more money for their department. But Kearny and Harrison could most certainly merge down the road and just cut down on overhead. I could only see East Newark getting sucked in because they would be a volunteer department stuck in the middle of a regional department. On an interesting side note Harrison and East Newark merged their Dispatch as reported on www.nj.com and it went into effect yesterday. Harrison and East Newark to Merge Emergency Dispatch Kearny should jump on board as well with that plan. Then we could save some real money with civilian dispatchers. Be realistic - a volunteer fire dept for Harrison,Kearny & East Newark - you have to be stupid - in this day and age you will never get volunteers to put out a fire - every body works either days or nights - and when they are home they are either sleeping or catching up on other things! The day of volunteers is over - Put it this way if Harrison had a fire and we had to have volunteers get together from these towns - the house would burn down!!!! I can merging Harrison & Kearny and getting rid of some firemen, but our houses are too close for a volunteer fire dept. NO matter what you think I'm not willing to loose my house or any of my family because we didn't have enough volunteers to put out the fire!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc13mets Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Be realistic - a volunteer fire dept for Harrison,Kearny & East Newark - you have to be stupid - in this day and age you will never get volunteers to put out a fire - every body works either days or nights - and when they are home they are either sleeping or catching up on other things! The day of volunteers is over - Put it this way if Harrison had a fire and we had to have volunteers get together from these towns - the house would burn down!!!! I can merging Harrison & Kearny and getting rid of some firemen, but our houses are too close for a volunteer fire dept. NO matter what you think I'm not willing to loose my house or any of my family because we didn't have enough volunteers to put out the fire!!!!! You responded to my post which didn't abolish the career/paid fire fighters at all. Did you even read it? It would be a combination department, which many towns already have in NJ. At a working house fire as you described in West Hudson you would have 3 Engine's and 3 Ladders that are paid and responding. (You would also have an engine from South Kearny coming up to the scene) Simultaneously you would have the page going out to the volunteers to get the other 5 engines and 1 ladder in service. Also you would have Jersey City responding to cover South Kearny. with those 5 engines and 1 ladder you can spread them out to cover the remaining area or send them to the scene, if you sent them to the scene or didn't get enough to man all those apparatus you would then starting calling for mutual aid from North Arlington, JC, Secaucus and North Hudson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Be realistic - a volunteer fire dept for Harrison,Kearny & East Newark - you have to be stupid - in this day and age you will never get volunteers to put out a fire - every body works either days or nights - and when they are home they are either sleeping or catching up on other things! The day of volunteers is over - Put it this way if Harrison had a fire and we had to have volunteers get together from these towns - the house would burn down!!!! I can merging Harrison & Kearny and getting rid of some firemen, but our houses are too close for a volunteer fire dept. NO matter what you think I'm not willing to loose my house or any of my family because we didn't have enough volunteers to put out the fire!!!!! Are you serious?? Besides the cities and a very few amount of towns in each state, the majority of fire departments in this COUNTRY are volunteer. Ignorant asshole. volunteer firefighters go through the EXACT schools, receive the same type training, and take the same tests that a newly hired firfighter will go through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted January 13, 2011 Report Share Posted January 13, 2011 Seriously, you are going to bullshit the people of Harrison that the overpaid HFD trains every day. Where? When? Can anyone in Hudson county ever say that they saw this alleged training in progess. I have seen the engines go to the credit union and to Kearny to buy groceries. Thats it. Is this the training you are talking about? Your statement of saying that the HFD trains everyday is about the same as the claim that there were almost 280 fires in the year 2008 in Harrison. No credibility at all. Let the residents know about the daily where, when, and time of this daily everyday rigorous training so they can watch this grand spectacle of life saving and be amazed at your skill level. Yeah, right! LOL, ahahahahahaha!!! I love when you post, you just prove more and more how you know nothing about being a fire fighter. Just because you dont see the guys out on the street training doesnt mean its not going on. A lot of the traning happens in house between mask confidence training, emt traning, and class room work for instance. Keep being jealous that you couldnt pass the fire test and trash the people you wish you could be. You are an absolute joke and your silly posts always give me a little laugh. Thank you =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest resident Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Are you serious?? Besides the cities and a very few amount of towns in each state, the majority of fire departments in this COUNTRY are volunteer. Ignorant asshole. volunteer firefighters go through the EXACT schools, receive the same type training, and take the same tests that a newly hired firfighter will go through. But most of those towns that have volunteer fire dept. are not as heavily populated and the majority of their houses aren't close together like Harrison - "ignorant asshole yourself". I'm glad you are willing to risk your family and house, but I'm not!!!! We can't get people to volunteer for their kids how are we going to get volunteers to man a firehouse....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 The one post about the HFD was funny. The guy said his house would burn to the ground without a paid HFD. Have you ever seen the HFD in action? There is never anything left but wet dirt and an empty spot where the house was. Remember, they are Fire Watchers, not Fire Fighters. If anyone could ever show me a clip of a Harrison Fireman running into a burning building I would have to send it to the FBI to verify its authenticity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Will the fireboy or his wife that keeps boring us with this engine #1, ladder #2, just shut up. The people want a volunteer FD in Harrison. That is abundantly clear. Years ago when Mr. Higgins was on the council, they both said at a meeting that there will always be a paid HFD no matter whar happens. The Mayor has not changed his mind. Hr adores them like a couple adores their their first born child. They serve as some twisted type of erotic stimulation for him. Harrison CANNOT AFFORD A PAID FIRE DEPT. WITH DRUGGED OUT JUNKIES COMING TO YOUR RESCUE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc13mets Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 Will the fireboy or his wife that keeps boring us with this engine #1, ladder #2, just shut up. The people want a volunteer FD in Harrison. That is abundantly clear. Years ago when Mr. Higgins was on the council, they both said at a meeting that there will always be a paid HFD no matter whar happens. The Mayor has not changed his mind. Hr adores them like a couple adores their their first born child. They serve as some twisted type of erotic stimulation for him. Harrison CANNOT AFFORD A PAID FIRE DEPT. WITH DRUGGED OUT JUNKIES COMING TO YOUR RESCUE. Harrison doesn't have a Ladder #2. They have a Ladder #1, Kearny has a Tower #2 and East Newark has a Ladder #2. How come the people that really want to be volunteer firefighter haven't filled up East Newark's Department. At last check they were still under capacity. (And that's 3 towns eligible) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 I would rather have the 3 E. Newark volunteers firefighters (much love to the E. Newark volunters, at least they have guts) putting out a fire rather than 3 Harrison and 3 Kearny fireman any day of the week. The paid jokes are too afraid of getting hurt. Wittle babies.............maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaameeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc13mets Posted February 21, 2011 Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 I would rather have the 3 E. Newark volunteers firefighters (much love to the E. Newark volunters, at least they have guts) putting out a fire rather than 3 Harrison and 3 Kearny fireman any day of the week. The paid jokes are too afraid of getting hurt. Wittle babies.............maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaameeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I would rather have those 9 firefighters doing the job together than any of them alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 (edited) I do not know why you would want any FF, especially 9, at your house if there was a fire. The best bet is if everyone is out safely is to let it burn to the ground. It's the only way you are going to get money for it after the 2% cap on taxes runs out and the town raises the tax 20% to 30% again to make up for the past three years. Nobody in their right mind will buy it by then anyway. Having a fire dept. which is your second largest component on your tax bill after the B.O.E. is unheard of in any town, city, or hamlet in the U.S.A. Crime is rapidly on the rise and you have at the most 4, at the least 2, Cops on the street at any time while the minimum amount of fireman sleeping at the clubhouse all making 6 six figure salaries is 10 per shift as ordered by dictator McDonough and his very uneducated council. In my opinion, McDonough has some type of ****** ********* ***** fireman and may even have *** ** * ***** ** *** **. 2 Cops on the street for over 20,000 citizens, if one goes home sick it's 1 due to the NO O.T. policy, is proposterous enough but when you add in a minimum of ten welfare cases (FF) at ALL times, it's fatal to the residents. 2 criminals could take over the town while you are sleeping if they wish. This is for the ultimate reason for any of these town budgets which is to get the most money into the hands of certain people by any and all measures including wiping out public safety. Just stack the calls and when it's your turn, a Cop will show up. Any Cop that has been there for 20 or 25 years will tell you it's the worst and most dangerous conditions they have ever seen. 16 of the worst years ever since McDonough became Mayor. Why does the Mayor stalk the Cops 4 A.M. to try to catch them sleeping? If he wants to watch men sleep for some creepy sick reason, he should go to the Section 8 firehouse and watch them all snuggled up in bed. The problem is that even as the Mayor they don't allow him to have key to enter the frat house. OMG, what's happening in Harrison? Edited March 16, 2011 by KOTW Content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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