BERGEN COUNTY FIRE SERVICE
Go to: Demographics - Suppression Operations - Code Enforcement - Training - Communications
Bergen County, located in northeast New Jersey is approximately 239 square miles in area with a population of approximately 844,000. The daytime population exceeds one million. The County borders on Hudson, Passaic and Essex counties of New Jersey and Rockland County of New York State and the Hudson River. Bergen County has seventy (70) individual political subdivisions, ranging in sizes from less than one square mile to approximately twenty-three square miles. .
Fire protection to the 70 communities, with a real estate net value of just less than $80 billion, is provided by 69 fire departments; of which four are career and sixty-five are volunteer. All fire departments are part of local government and funded through property taxes. A few fire departments still hold title to their firehouses and/or equipment.
The fire hazard potentials range from the densely populated east with many high rise structures, the heavily industrialized south and the residential communities in the central and northern areas of the County. Target hazards include Teterboro Airport, one of the busiest (over 100,000 movements per year) noncommercial airports in the United States, large shopping malls, Giant Stadium, Meadowlands Race Track and Continental Arena, six hospitals and/or medical centers, many large industrial and chemical companies (121 SARA III § 302, 11 TCPA facilities) and several gas transmission lines (Transcontinental and Tennessee).
The County is traversed by several interstate highways (routes 95, 80, 287), state highways (routes 3, 4, 5, 1&9, 17, 46, 120, 202, 208) the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway. In addition there are 470 miles of county and municipal roadways. This vast highway system creates a major transportation corridor from New York City and State southward. The County also has three rivers (Hackensack, Passaic, Hudson) and is located in the holding pattern for JFK and Newark Airports.
Suppression operations
Few fire departments in the county have the capabilities of contending with major fire requiring fire flows above 3500 G.P.M. Therefore, much reliance is placed on mutual aid agreements. Nine mutual aid groups are operating in Bergen County. They vary in size from three to sixteen departments. Several mutual aid agreements span both county and state borders.
Currently there are 149 fire companies operating from 139 fire stations and a combined total of approximately 4000 firefighters in Bergen. There are 242 engines, 68 ladder trucks, and 65 rescues within Bergen. Several fire departments operate BLS EMS. The career departments answer about 3500 calls per year and the volunteer departments range from 150 to 2000 calls per year.
All Bergen County municipalities have established Local Enforcing Agencies for the NJ Uniform Fire Code enforcement. The County has also established a Fire Marshal's office under Emergency Management for the purpose of enforcing the fire code in County-owned buildings. The Fire Marshal also serves as the County Fire Coordinator.
Training
Bergen County trains all firefighters at their Fire Academy located in Mahwah. The facility consists of a three story 80x80 live burn structure, a five story tower and a three story plus basement smokehouse. There is also an apparatus garage housing three pumpers and an aerial ladder. Additionally there is a SCBA building for filling, cleaning and repairing SCBA's.
The fires in the burn building are created by simulation using propane fire "fireplaces". Each fireplace is capable of creating several different scenarios. Some of the scenarios include: a cockloft fire, extension fire from one floor to another, warehouse fire, garden apartment and a restaurant deep fryer fire. Two types of artificial smoke can be created. One type of smoke is made from a non-toxic formula and used for public education the simulated movie house and the simulated office building.
The Fire Academy, which also houses the Police Academy, is under the guidance of a Chief Instructor, four full time instructors and a cadre of part-time instructors. Most of the full time staff and many of the part-time staff have been working at the facility for more than fifteen years. The Academy, which receives complete cooperation and support from the County Executive, is ready to break ground on an addition to the administration building that will double its size.
Communications
Bergen County does not have a regional dispatch center for emergency services. The Bergen County Communications Center, located at Bergen County Police Headquarters, does monitor 154.280 for emergency fire transmissions and inter-mutual aid group activities. The Communications Center also service as primary dispatch for one fire department, a backup dispatch point for several municipalities.