HAMILTON — A fire district or municipal department?
That was the main question Thursday at the township council’s latest meeting about the consolidation of Hamilton’s nine fire districts.
It’s a question that’s come up before but is not settled as the council moves toward dissolving the town’s districts.
Most of the firefighters who spoke, including the two fire union presidents, said they preferred a district over a municipal fire department.
Chris Tozzi, fire chief of District 2, said though the town has nine districts now, he said they are familiar to fire officers and the commissioner boards that run them have one job – to focus on a district.
One large district for all firefighters, with one 5-member board, would be able provide the accessibility that he’s used to. He said he can get a hold of two commissioners at any time and to form a subcommittee to get things done, he said.
He questioned if town leaders, like the council, would be accessible for fire leaders.
“No disrespect, but we won’t have ability, and access, to meet with two of you to move things forward,” Tozzi said.
Shane Mull, president of the firefighters’ union, and Nick Buroczi, president of the fire officers, said they preferred a district. “We feel it’s in our best interest to go into a fire district,” Mull said.
“I feel a fire district would be more efficient (for the town), and safer for the firelighters,” Buroczi said.
Hamilton chiefs suggest 196 career firefighters
And Mull said the unions met with Mayor Kelly Yaede earlier in the week, and said she favored a fire district too. But Business Administrator John Ricci jumped in and said he did not recall Yaede specifically coming down on the side of a district.
“She never said I don’t want a municipal department,” Ricci responded. Mull said it was the impression he got from the meeting.
While Councilman Dennis Pone said he wanted to keep discussion to district versus a municipal department topic, the issue of volunteer firefighters and the recent Department of Community Affairs report on the Hamilton fire service surfaced several times.
The report, which suggested a district model, said the town should use its existing volunteers to plug gaps in firefighters’ schedules, like overtime and vacation leave.
Most career firefighters were once volunteers, they said, and stressed many times they respect volunteers, but they oppose having volunteers work side-by-side with career volunteers unless the career staffing on apparatus is already complete.
Simply saying volunteers will be part of the new department will need more planning, and a good training program, firefighters said.
Under questioning from council, Tozzi said: “This is not peewee football, not everyone gets to play.”
“Some volunteers want to come to the firehouse and wear the blue shirt, and some are very committed,” Tozzi said.
In his district, volunteers need to dedicate 12 hours per month, after passing official volunteer firefighter training at a state-certified fire academy, Tozzi said. And unless they are very young, like college students, they have jobs and other commitments.
“We cannot rely that they will be there,” Tozzi said. “This is not a volunteer fire department, It’s career-led and it’s busy.” Across all districts, firefighters responded to over 6,000 calls last year, he said.
Unions slam state report on fire district consolidation
Also speaking was Hamilton resident Bob Tharp, who recently retired form the Trenton Fire Department as a deputy chief. He is also a former volunteer firefighter in Hamilton.
In the type of department discussion, he cautioned the council that if they go to a municipal model, firefighters will be looking for confidence from the council, “And they will be coming through you,” he said
In terms of the DCA report, he also cautioned the council not too put too much stock in it, saying the idea of volunteers riding with career firefighters was “insult” and he took it as the state looking to volunteers as “cheap labor.”
Tharp, who dealt with the DCA in Trenton, which is under DCA oversight, said the agency was “nameless, faceless and had no culpability to anyone.”
“They only care about one thing, the bottom line,” Tharp said.
Pone later reiterated that the report was only a tool for the council, and they were looking for all input possible.
Later, in a discussion about control of the fire department, and how a commissioner board would work with the town, resident Janice Glonick – a meeting mainstay – said she thought the whole purpose of consolidation was to move away from each district as a “little powerhouse.”
That rankled several firemen, who stood to respond.
Fire Chief Rich Kraemer said he took offense, and that it made it seem like fire districts had done something “immoral, illegal or unethical.”
Added Buroczi: “We didn’t do this to take control of fire district, we did it for the safety of our firefighters.”
The next meeting, the last public meeting about consolidation, is next Thursday, Feb. 23 at the Hamilton library.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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