North Jersey Volunteer Firemen's Association

North Jersey Volunteer Firemen's Association

P.O. Box 8181

Haledon NJ 07538

Founded back in 1928, the NJVFA is composed of more than 130 members from the five counties of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris and Passaic. In addition to volunteer fire companies the roster also includes auxiliary fire units of career fire departments and indusrial/corporate fire units in municipalities totalling more than one million people. Personal membership is open to adults with an interest in the fire service, whether or not a member of a volunteer fire company.

The largest part of our operation is the North Jersey Fire Training Center located on PAL Drive in Wayne's Mountain View section. Started long before many of the present day county fire academies were founded, our school has operated on the present site since 1952 through the courtesy of the Wayne Township Fire Department Officers Association. For information contact Presient Hunt at 973-595-6398 or call the school at 973-694-9052 when in session (usually Sunday morning).

Recently an email list for the exchange of firematic news and announcements about our region has gone online. While email messages can be sent and received through the individual members addresses, they can also be read and posted from the Egroups web site which also has space for uploaded files, links and an electronic calendar. It is free and open to anyone with an interest in the fire service of our area. It's called NorthJerseyVolFire and it's at Egroups.com (formerly Onelist.com) To learn more about it visit:

http://www.egroups.com/group/NorthJerseyVolFire

Speaking of free online services, firepics@Egroups.com is a growing forum for the exchange of fire department related photos. The url is http://www.egroups.com/group/firepics

Another good service is the Fire & EMS Network which offers free web pages to fire, first aid and rescue agencies grouped by states and countries. They also will link existing web sites to the various directories. The url is: http://www.fire-ems.net

And let us not forget New Jersey Firefighters Online whose url is: http://www.njfirefighters.com

Our monthly meetings are usually held on the first Wednesday of the months scheduled, starting at 8pm at various host locations. Each member company is permitted three voting delegates but there is no mandatory attendance and there is no limit as to who may attend -- all guests are always welcome. While roll call does fluctuate, there usually is between 60 and 90 people there.

Year 2000 meeting hosts so far include Pine Brook Fire District of Montville in February, Bloomingdale Fire Department in April, Verona Fire Department Engine Co. 1 in May, Cedar Grove Fire Department in June, Macopin Co. 4 of West Milford in August, Fairfield Fire Department in September, Friendship Hook & Ladder of Carlstadt in October, South Hackensack Co. 2 in November and Community Fire Co. 1 of Wayne in December.

Year 2001 locations include North Caldwell, North Haledon and Rochelle Park (as of 4/1/2000).

1999 meetings were held at Oakland, West Paterson, Montville, Mount Hope of Rockaway Township, Pompton Lakes, Milton of Jefferson Township, Riverdale, Schooleys Mountain of Washington Township (Morris), New Jersey Firemen's Home, Prospect Park and Rockaway Neck of Parsippany-Troy Hills Township.

In addition to reports from our committees dealing with many topics such as legislation and training, officers of other firematic organizations are often present to inform us; we are proud that New Jersey State Firemen's Association President Frank Bocchino is a personal member who usually attends. Members are given an opportunity to talk about recent fire and emergency experiences in their localities. Following the business segment (about an hour on average) there is usually a guest speaker or eductional program (15 to 30 minutes); we have been honored many times by membersof career fire departments such as Clifton, Paterson, Jersey City, Newark, New York City and other cities. At the conclusion of our sessions there is a social hour including refreshments which gives everyone present the chance to interact with fellow firefighters in an atmosphere that is conducive to creating and renewing friendships.

Volunteer fire units from our five county region are urged to become active members of our organization -- dues are only $30 per year for each company with half of that going to the fire school. Personal membership for adults is $10 annually.

For more information about the NJVFA please us at our email address, njvfa@hotmail.com, or contact any of the officers:

President:

John T. Hunt has been repeatedly re-elected president for over 30 years. He is from Prospect Park of Passaic County, where he is a former fire chief. He is currently Fire School Director and chairman of the Film & Video Library.

973-595-6398.

Bergen County Vice-president:

William "Bill" Zak of Elmwood Park

201-703-1115

Essex County Vice-president:

Richard "Dick"Damkoehler of North Caldwell who is also our Legislative Chairman and our representative to the New Jersey State Fire Advisory Council.

973-226-8926

Hudson County Vice-president:

George H. Heflich Sr. of Secaucus who is also Second Assistant Secretary of the New Jersey State Firemen's Association.

201-863-3665

BGH291@aol.com

Morris County Vice-president:

Harold "Harry" DeDreu of Linclon Park who is also Morris County's representative to the Board of Managers of the New Jersey Firemen's Home.

973-694-0752

Passaic County Vice-president:

Donald Simmons of Wayne who is also Passaic County's representative to the Executive Committee of the New Jersey State Firemen's Association

973-694-3829

Treasurer:

Henry Manger of Haledon

973-942-6573

Secretary:

Richard Dean of Butler

Home 973-492-0543, Fax 973-838-3749

Work 973-838-0063, Fax 973-838-3454

richdean@advanix.net

Sergeant At Arms:

James Ferris of Bloomingdale

973-838-4756

Chaplain:

Robert Stelling Jr. of Butler

973-248-1730

Assistant Chaplain:

Geoffrey Swenson of Morristown

973-538-2523