Volunteer firefighter claims his town unlawfully shut down one of its fire houses
Brink says the closure of Hose 4 puts the community at risk even with the town's quick response times.
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Danny Brink has been a volunteer firefighter in the village of Ridgefield Park for six years. However, earlier this year, Brink says Hose 4, where he reports for duty, was shut down by village officials.
"They come and go as they please, they locked us out, I showed you, they changed all the combinations we don't have any access," Brink said.
The 1.91-square-mile town had six individual fire companies. Brink says the closure of Hose 4 puts the community at risk even with the town's quick response times.
"We have a grammar school directly across the street, I live two blocks away. If God forbid something ever happened there, I could be there within two to three minutes. Now your next closest firehouse is four or five blocks away," Brink said.
News 12 New Jersey spoke with Fire Chief William Lynn about Brink's claims, and he says the community isn't in danger, he says the remaining five firehouses can handle the volume. Unfortunately Hose 4 was down to four active members when it was shut down, with only two living in town.
"Safety is always of paramount concern, having one member roll out apparatus by themselves is not safe for both the firefighters and therefore the residents of the village," Lynn said.
Brink explains volunteer fire houses are owned by the volunteer members. They do fundraisers to be able to maintain their buildings. According to Brink the village notified the members that the village of Ridgefield Park now owned their building
"We're a nonprofit organization, we're a 501C. The only other person that could take this building or purchase it would have to be another nonprofit," Brink said.
"That was handled between the company president and the village mayor, fire commissioner and the village attorney. So, there was an actual signing of documents and that was handled outside of this office," Lynn said.
News 12 reached out to the mayor to ask about that specifically and we haven't heard back yet. The closures of volunteer fire houses is a trend we're seeing across the nation because of a shortage of volunteers.
"Volunteering is declining drastically. The requirements are going up, so getting these members trained and being able to assist us on calls for service it takes a little bit longer than it used to," Lynn said.
