doc13mets

First off. Stop saying I said things that I didn't. I said fires go up in a bad economy. Which is true. I never ever ever said crime does not go up. I only was making a statement saying that fires go up in a bad economy. Someone then responded saying that because I never mentioned crime and police that I must believe that crime does not go up. (paraphased) Which is not true and I later said that. (All that took place in a Harrison post) So stop twisting my words. Fire's and Crime both tend to go up in a bad economy. What town do you live in? You have to understand there is certain reasons why certain towns need paid departments. Aside from the many services they offer towns like Kearny do need paid firefighters. With that chemical plant down in South Kearny and the exposure issues you have in the residential area. Most Bergen county towns don't have this issue. Thats why they are mostly volunteer.

You do have to pass a background check you know.

Are you kidding me... I was driving down Belgrove Drive yesterday going south. Half the time i was driving in the middle of the road cause the snow forced cars to park further into the street. When I hit East Newark and then Harrison on Grant Ave I noticed something different. I no longer had that issue. Snow was removed curb to curb. Why can these towns do that and Kearny can't? (Especially on emergency roads, I don't expect Kearny to go curb to curb on every street but a few key streets I do)

Because they physically don't work for all 24 hours. They have built in break time and sleep time that they are just on standby for. Driving for 36 hours straight is extremly dangerous. So is driving for 24 hours straight. You are no longer as alert as you were at hour 3. I have a feeling that I didn't need to post it. Some ignorant person is probably just looking again to attack firefighters.

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.

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.

Yeah but in this area where politics are so engrained into society it would make sense to me to start small with merging then two regional departments could merge. Like if there was a West Hudson Fire eventually down the road it would make it easy to merge with North Hudson Fire. Maybe even Jersey City and Bayonne would jump on board then. Who knows. But the idea is to give it a start. I would think one advantage to a combo department you would get some guys who want to become career guys. Then they have a much easier transition and would get some preference points which is nice. If there was a West Hudson Fire Department with some volunteers at least those guys that live in West Hudson and were volunteers would get some extra points which would be nice. Maybe we would actually start to see some locals get hired for the first time in how many years!

I have to agree. Plowing for 36 hours is extremely dangerous. No one should do it and if you allowed yourself to do it you are just as stupid. As for the $27.00 estimate it does sound a bit farfetched. I have seen estimates under a grand. But without knowing how much damage was done I can't really even make a comment either way with this one.

Most of those aren't facts. Infact most of the things you said are pieces of misinformation. I'm not spinning any story for John, I don't even know the guy. I'm just stating what I saw, know to be true and experienced. When I start to go down your list and realize one of the facts are wrong I don't even bother checking the others. What a waste of time.

I'm one of the biggest paid Fire Department supporters. Read all my past posts. I am also educated. I know in the current economy unfortunately paid fire departments at the levels they are now in the area won't be able to be sustained in the long run. A lot of towns have combination departments. Do volunteer firefighters go to different academies then the career firefighters?

If I went to Atlantic City and over a year lost $700 gambling vs $1400 gambling it's really not a big difference remember those numbers are spread out over a year. Now a yearly salary of $50,000 vs $100,000 is. The two examples are not even comparable. If you think they are then you are just foolish.

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.

They will just say... Go down the Blvd, left onto Sherman and stop in at East Newark. Look saved you a trip.

The storm was Sunday into Monday... snow was done falling by morning... There was no fire in Kearny on Monday, the very day the storm ended. There was a fire the next day, Tuesday at approx 3AM on Bergen Ave at the old West Hudson Hospital. Let us remember Bergen Ave is apparently an emergency road. And apparently there were still issues (one stuck bus) and waiting on DPW to help clear other area's so buses could make their way through a whole approx 22 hours after the snow stopped falling. This on an Emergency road which is supposed to be a priority. So get your facts and dates straight before you continue to embarrass yourself. Also note that I believe it's more the Administration's fault for not having the cars removed during or immediately before the storms arrival then the workers themselves. This should be a lesson learned!

It didn't. But just like that college kid who knew that major term paper was due over a month ago and he did it the night before, just because people know something is going to happen doesn't necessarily mean they are going to prepare for it. I don't believe our town and others in the area prepared enough for it. They should have had no parking after 12:00 noon signs on all the emergency roads on Sunday.

"Passable" but barely...

I know it was. I didn't say it was a Kearny Bus, I just said a "second bus". What does it matter what towns name is on the bus? The fact is a bus that was helping with the evactuation got stuck in the snow, when you said they didn't. It was one of the buses that were assisting in evacuation of the seniors. If Harrison had a smiliar situation I am confident Kearny would send a bus as well. The towns departments have very good relationships espeically durning emergencies. Personally I don't think the DPW department did a bad job, I think it could have been managed better like police announcments having people remove cars durning the storm so emergency roads would be more clear durning the storm. I promise you they weren't. But the workers themselves did all they could with what they had durning a horrible storm.

Good thing considering Harrison hasn't been allowed to use that in years because of the DEP. Yes it's stupid that they can't use it but thats the way it is. So nice that they didn't go in on the purchase as it would have been a waste of money.

I guess you didn't see the second senior bus stuck in the snow for the very same evacuation? But this storm no city/town did a real good job with. Towns just weren't prepared enough.

Harrison hasn't been allowed to use it in some time. Was great when they did. The DEP doesn't allow them to. Something about cause of street salting then melting the snow and the salt in the water getting into the river is dangerous. Honestly I can't see how that salt hurts THAT UGLY river at all.

I know East Newark is working on that. It will not lower the limit from 25 to 15 on Passaic Ave though. Passaic Ave will still remain 25mph. Unless of course the county approves and allows the change.

I recall when I first started driving the Highest Speed limit on the Turnpike and Parkway was 55... they raised it to 65... So why did they raise it then? That was an invalid argument you just made. To your argument about raising it to 35 and people will do 50, they don't have that issue in Bergen County on the same stretch of road, I ride it all the time. I agree you will get some people doing 50 or so... but those same people are probably doing 50 on the road right now (well actually not in this weather but you get my point)

Cool... should I give you my address for my certificate? lol... thats pretty cool big milestone!

Right I thought about that after I posted. But still I think if something came from the Mayor and Council asking the county to consider raising it that would hold more weight than one letter from me.

It is kind of silly that the speed limit is 25mph. But I do understand where you are coming from. It's tough when you are in NA on that road heading towards Kearny the speed limit is often 40mph and there are many more small stores on the NA side. The only commercial really on the Kearny side is right past Bergen and you have multiple lanes. The town really should increase the speed limit to 35 except by that nasty curve. I am not intending to justify tailgating as that is dangerous. But I do believe the town should raise it.