Twp. to Study Need of Fire Houses, Equipment

In an effort to determine what changes need to be made to the three fire departments in town, the Washington Township Committee is getting the ball rolling on a study of the stations.

"One of the issues is we have three fire departments in town and we spend a lot of money on equipment," Mayor Ken Short said after Wednesday night's committee work session. 

"With the change in population trends in the township we have concerns," Short continued. "Do we have the right equipment; do we need more, do we need less; do we have houses at the right locations; are the pumpers where they should be; is the ladder truck where it should be; is the tanker truck where it should be; personnel, are we getting volunteers at the right area; are we providing everything we need to make our firefighters and residents safe? The answer is 'we don't know.' We're doing a pretty good job right now but is there something we should have that we don't have, is there something that we do have that we don't need?"

The township has three fire companies, all served by residents who are volunteer firefighters. Those three companies are on Fairmount Road; Long Valley Fire on Fairview Avenue; and on Schooley's Mountain Road. 

Short said that the committee has been gathering information and has appropriated $20,000 in the budget for a study to figure out the answers to these questions.

In addition to Short's questions, the committee also reached out to the fire departments–six firefighters representing the three stations were present at Wednesday evening's meeting to speak–to seek more information. Once all the information is rounded up, the committee will choose someone to create the study.

"We have four people that are capable of doing the study," Short said. "What we're going to do is put this out to the various fire officials, let them take a look at the different people, check their areas of expertise and take recommendations from our experts from our fire department, and then we'll decide who it's going to be [to conduct the study]. This is something that's best done by an outside firm that has no interest; nothing in the game."

Short said that the conductor of the study will "probably [be] determined at our July meeting."

New Truck to be Finalized

Following a discussion at its Wednesday evening meeting, all signs point to the Washington Township Committee awarding a bid to purchase a new fire truck for the Long Valley fire station.

"Monday evening we're going to take a vote, and the indication is we are going to approve it, but we have to wait until Monday for the official vote," Short said.

The bid is for $392,951 to purchase the vehicle from manufacturer Pierce. The price comes after a trade-in with the station's current 1991 Spartan Gladiator truck. The committee allocated up to $450,000 for the purchase of the vehicle.

Short said it generally takes between nine and 10 months to manufacture the truck, so if the committee decides to award the bid in June the pumper vehicle will most likely be ready for delivery in March or April of 2013.