JUNE 24, 2015, 3:46 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015, 5:33 PM
BY STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Forget chasing fires. Three Ridgewood firefighters will be chasing gold medals at the World Police and Fire Games for the next week.
Capt. Chris DuFlocq, Lt. Brendan Corcoran and Fireman Brian Peacock are among the 12,000 international athletes — all police officers and career firefighters from 70 countries — competing in the Olympics-style games in Fairfax County, Va., that begin Friday and run through July 5.
DuFlocq, a 56-year-old Midland Park resident, placed an ad in a union magazine in 2011 to pull together a soccer team. Firefighters and cops from all over the state responded. “It was more successful that I thought it would be,” he said.
The team — dubbed “N.J. Guns and Hoses” — went on to win national gold medals in 2013 and 2014. More than a dozen players practice once or twice a week and they play in tournaments throughout the year.
“We’ve got national, now we want to see if we can compete with the world,” DuFlocq said. “It’s going to be a struggle. It’s going to be some tough games.”
Corcoran, 37, of Ridgewood said he has already broken two world records. He has smashed the Guinness World Records for one-mile and half-marathon runs in full firefighter gear but he is waiting for it to be made official. He ran in 25 pounds of gear to raise awareness for firefighter fitness, as well as raise money for Code 3 for a Cure Foundation, a national non-profit charity that supports firefighters with cancer.
June 6,2015
Chief John M. Ward and the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, In response yesterdays stand off situation Chief John Ward issued the following statement on facebook , ” I would like to once again thank our officers for doing an excellent job containing the situation and Sheriff Saudino, Under Sheriff Shortway and Members of the County Regional SWAT, Bomb Squad and Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office for another successful joint effort.
Members of our (ERT) Emergency Response Team integrated with county team members flawlessly. Officers from Glen Rock surrounding towns also provided valuable assistance. Without this type of team work and commitment to integrated training events, incidents such as these become very difficult and may not go as well as they have.
Fortunately the young man was ultimately taken into custody and the matter ended without incident or injury. I would also like to thank Chief Benjamin Ramos and the members of the Palisades Park Police for the work on this case and on scene assistance during the event.
Unfortunately we did have to shut down a portion of S. Maple Ave and evacuate many residents for safety concerns. The young man is at Bergen Regional medical center being evaluated and charges are pending. The matter is under investigation.
I would also like to mention and thank Chief Van Goor and Ridgewood Fire, Ridgewood OEM Director Kleiman and Ridgewood ES. With their assistance Capt. Lyons and I were able to handle our responsibilities with both tactical command and Unified Command for the other support services.”
Ridgewood Fire Lieutenant Brendan Corcoran recently ran the fastest ever half marathon in full firefighter gear. He is hoping to run the fastest mile in gear at the upcoming Ridgewood Run on Memorial Day.
MAY 1, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY GAIL KISLEVITZ
CORRESPONDENT |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
It’s not easy to set a Guinness World Record but that’s what Ridgewood resident and Fire Lieutenant Brendan Corcoran has done. Not once, but in all likelihood, twice. Corcoran, 37, recently set a new world record for running the fastest half marathon in full firefighter gear at the Michelob Ultra Queens 13.1 on March 21 in an official time of 1:48:24. Stuart Ruston of the United Kingdom set the previous record of 2:00:41 in March of 2013. Corcoran carried 25 pounds of gear on him, as per the official record, which consisted of his firefighter uniform boots, jacket, helmet, and pants.
On May 25, at the Memorial Day Ridgewood Run, Corcoran plans to break the Guinness World Record for running the fastest mile in full gear plus air packs, for a total of 45 pounds. The current Guinness record for fastest mile in a fireman’s uniform is 7 minutes and 58.02 seconds, set in April of 2013 by Ashrita Furman at the Jamaica High School athletics track in New York. Corcoran has already beaten that record in his training for the mile event.
Guinness World Records, known from its inception in 1955 through 1998 as The Guinness Book of Records, is a reference book published annually, listing world records. Sir Hugh Beaver, chairman of the Guinness Brewery in Ireland, created the book when he missed a shot at a golden plover. He wondered if the plover is the fastest game bird in Europe but couldn’t find a reference book that answered the question. So he undertook the task of finding and recording records and his book was created. It is the best selling book in the world.
The Ridgewood blog was founded in March of 2006 by James J Foytlin aka PJ Blogger . Mr. Foytlin was born and raised in Ridgewood ,New Jersey and is a graduate of Ridgewood High School .
Ridgewood NJ, – Oct. 26, 2009 – RIDGEWOOD, N.J. — The Ridgewood blog ( https://theridgewoodblog.blogspot.com/ ) was founded in March of 2006 by James J Foytlin aka PJ Blogger .[1] Mr. Foytlin was born and raised in Ridgewood ,New Jersey and is a graduate of Ridgewood High School .[2] [3]
After many years living in New York City[4] Mr Foytlin returned to Ridgewood after a divorce and the tragic events of 9/11 . Once he settled in he noticed a lack of sufficient news coverage of local events . One day a friend from Brazil[5] showed him her home town on the internet and to Mr. Foytlin’s great surprise when he tried to reciprocate he was utterly dismayed at the absolute lake coverage of his home town. After all Ridgewood is only 18 miles from midtown Manhattan[6] the media capitol of world and there was not a single picture of Ridgewood to be found . How could this be? Ridgewood is a picturesque upper middle class village of around 25,000 located in Bergen county in northern New Jersey[7] . Founded by Dutch settlers before it became an English colony[8] . The town or village as its called is steeped in rich history and tradition .Known for a large amount of Victorian era housing , a quality school system and a family friendly atmosphere.
Though busy getting reacquainted with his home town the fact that the Village of Ridgewood was so under represented on the internet continued to disturb Mr. Foytlin. Mr. Foytlin had been writing news letters for his job in financial services since the mid 1990’s . The popular flip, off beat investment strategy news letters had become email blasts with the advent of readily accessible internet.[9] By 2004 the email blasts were converted into blog format for the One Small Voice blog (https://onesmallvoice.blogspot.com/ ). [10]
Around that time the Village of Ridgewood had finally completed it’s much anticipated and long delayed renovation of the Village hall which has been flooded out due to Hurricane Floyd.[11] The renovation was marred by huge cost over runs and lengthy delays. In 2005 it opened with great fan fare , was once again flooded with the very first rain . Mr. Foytlin was more shocked by the abject lack of responsibility taken by elected officials than the fact that the $9 million dollar renovation had to some extent been a failure . That was the breaking point and Mr. Foytlin had had enough so he decided to give , citizen journalism a go and created the Ridgewood blog in March of 2006. [12]
The birth of PJ Blogger .By this time Blogging its seems had become quite the rage and mainstream news anchors such as Dan Rather had questioned the validity of information from non professionals sitting around in their Pajama’s blogging.[13] Mr. Foytlin not a fan of Dan Rather or any of the mainstream media decided to blog under the name PJ Blogger as a play on words and to plant himself firmly in the camp of the new digital media.
Innovations by the Ridgewood blog to citizen journalism.
“The Fly” is a column on the Ridgewood blog the originates from the expression ,”I’d like to be a fly on the wall “ . The idea is that every citizen has both a unique perspective and experience and these two factors can be used to gather news and opinions about local issues. Originally only of handful of people in town participated but with time the Ridgewood blog can now count on 20–40 semi regular contributors. These post are both anonymous and signed and are largely opinion as well a breaking news.[14]
The Ridgewood blog brings a free market lassie fare point of view to local issues . Mr. Foytlin aka PJ Blogger has stated that for local issues there are only two kinds of people ;the ones who say spend what every you want because I will not be around to pay the bill and the second group which are more focused on the ,”be careful this is my money your spending” . The Ridgewood blog is dedicated to the interplay of there two groups.[15]
[1][12] the Ridgewood blog website https://theridgewoodblog.blogspot.com/
[2] Birth Certificate born in Valley Hospital , Ridgewood 04/09/1962
[3] Ridgewood High School Class 1980
[4] 444 East 86th street ,530 East 72nd
[5] Monica Rocha
[6] Mapquest
[7] United States 2000 Census, the village population was 24,936.
[8] https://www.americantowns.com/nj/ridgewood/organization/vi…
[9] Fahnestock & Co. now Oppenheimer & Co.
[10] https://onesmallvoice.blogspot.com/
[11] https://www.ridgewoodlibrary.org/localhistory/lh_vh_pease.htm
[13] https://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110005611
[14] [15] James J Foytlin
April 3, 2015, 5:05 PM Last updated: Friday, April 3, 2015, 5:08 PM
By CHRIS HARRIS
Staff Writer |
The Record
RIDGEWOOD — Village officials have shut the doors over at Finca, a tapas restaurant that opened along East Ridgewood Avenue a little less than three months ago.
A notice adorning Finca’s front door Friday claims the eatery will remain closed “until further notice due to fire code violations.” The notice further says the restaurant will “reopen as soon as possible” while inviting patrons to visit its nearby sister restaurant, Cravings Tapas Bistro.
Ridgewood Fire Chief James Van Goor said on Friday that Finca was cited Thursday evening for nine violations to both the fire and building codes.
Heating System – Furnace – boiler – hot water heater
Fireplaces and other open flames like oven or range
Electrical shorts
To prevent fires, please pay attention to the following points and keep a household fire extinguisher at home.:
Do not store any flammable material near a furnace or in the furnace room.
Make sure your furnace is clean, with no dust or lint build up, a cleaning can be as simple as using a vacuum machine or damp cloth.
If your home or building has a hot forced air system (central heating or air conditioning) make sure your filters are clean. We recommend that you check the filters once a month.
In case you have a heating problem, and the heat is off, do not use an open flame from the oven or stove, in many cases a fire can start right there.
Schedule a visual inspection by a technician at least once a year, just to check that everything is working properly. A heating company should be able to tell and recognize signs that you cannot see. For example, the color of the flame in the pilot of the furnace should always be blue and never red.
Do not use an extension cord for any appliances, especially for heating units. Extension cords are forbidden by the code and in many cases as a result of using an extension cord wires will overheat and a fire can result.
Keep children and all flammable items at least 3 feet away from any heating device.
Make sure you have smoke detectors and even more than one in the furnace room just in case of a failure and fire extinguishers available and handy. Smoke detectors should be tested often and fire extinguishers need to be in operating conditioning-the verification bar needs to be in the green area.
We highly recommend that you have at least one fire extinguisher in the furnace room, one in the kitchen and one next to your bar-b-q as those area are known to have an open flame so you want to make sure your fire extinguisher will be available immediately if needed.
If you need any furnace maintenance or check up feel free to contact us and we would be happy to help and advise. Have a wonderful day.
Reader says legally-imposed hiring preference for qualified local residents was NEVER ON THE AGENDA.
Unfortunately for you, you’ve just highlighted perhaps the best reason why Councilwoman Knudsen need never have concerned herself with any potential conflict-of-interest: Potentially eliminating the RPD’s and the RFD’s legally-imposed hiring preference for qualified local residents was NEVER ON THE AGENDA.
Other items relating to village hiring practices for other municipal jobs may have been up for discussion, but never the local hiring practices relating to police or firemen. (And certainly nothing on the agenda necessitated closing the session.)
This is also why it is so clearly a red herring for anyone to bring up her relationship to the test-takers. They are not even candidates for any of the positions or categories of positions being looked at by the VC for potential changes in the law relating to hiring practices!
What do we care about what relationship the test-takers have or don’t have with Councilwoman Knudsen? What’s the relevance?
Reader says Nobody cares whether RPD or RFD test-takers have any relationship with a current member of the Village Council or not.
Nobody cares whether RPD or RFD test-takers have any relationship with a current member of the Village Council or not. Yet you won’t stop talking about it. It has no relevance to the topic at hand. Your continued harping on it seems to show that you are trying to sow general confusion or to deflect attention from the topic immediately at hand (namely: non-police and non-firefighter municipal hiring practices in Ridgewood). Is this not the textbook definition of a red herring? If so, can we please be forgiven for ignoring it?
A municipality that flouts or ignores the law in question for 25 years MUST BE consistently failing deliberately to give priority to qualified candidates who actually live within its borders. Thus, its hiring practices are literally out of control and must be amended immediately.
Most qualified potential candidates who are also local residents are likely to be unaware of the law operating in their favor because the management of the municipality has itself forgotten about its requirements. That’s a heck of a lot of ignorance, institutional and otherwise. The likelihood of such collective ignorance and lack of management control producing many, many violations of the law in question over a twenty-five year period is objectively high.
More particularly, the municipality in question will be extremely lucky if one or more such violations did not occur within the one, two, three, six-year period (whatever it happens to be) specified by the statute of limitations (i.e., the recent past) such that the hiring decision(s) is either currently subject to being ‘undone’ as a result of a well-pled lawsuit, or will be held to have triggered liability for money damages awardable to the plaintiff behind the suit.
You are asking someone to simply name for you any and all Ridgewood residents in the past twenty-five years who were qualified and applied for a position with the village and were improperly turned down in favor of respective out-of-town applicants.
With all due respect, and at least in this forum, this is a preposterous demand. If you are curious about the potential scope of the village’s liability for current and past violations of the hiring practices law in question, you should conduct your own investigation. Pounding your fists at the insufficiency of a collection of comments on a local blog accomplishes nothing and, frankly, makes you look like a fish out of water (or worse).
OTOH, Nobody here ultimately wishes anyone ill. The issues and good governance are what count, and your time was not wasted if you would just try to broaden your perspective to include more than just the political, or the tactical.
N.Y. man injured in Ridgewood construction accident
FEBRUARY 20, 2015, 7:38 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2015, 7:38 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — A 31-year-old man from Rockland County suffered a broken collar bone and shoulder in a construction accident Friday morning, according to a village police spokesman.
The police spokesman said the incident occurred inside a McKinley Place home, where crews were working to install drywall.
Ridgewood asks resident to clear out snow near hydrants
February 19, 2015 Last updated: Thursday, February 19, 2015, 3:00 PM
By By Darius Amos
The majority of Ridgewood’s 722 fire hydrants have been cleared of snow and ice, but municipal and public safety officials are reminding residents to take action if another winter storm rears its head.
In a village-wide message delivered to E-Notice subscribers late last week, Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld urged residents to free their neighborhood hydrants of snow, ice and other debris. For property owners who cannot clean a path around the hydrant themselves, Sonenfeld advised that notice should be given to her office or the Ridgewood Fire Department.
“We understand that there are residents who are not able to do so,” Sonenfeld said.
Fire Chief James Van Goor added that his department will respond “if we missed any.”
According to Van Goor, Ridgewood firefighters tour the village and clear snow from hydrants “for a couple of days after a storm.” Though the village ultimately completes the job, officials request that residents assist in the process and remove snow from hydrants when possible.
KELLER WILLIAMS AGENTS TO COLLECT DONATIONS FOR EDGEWATER FIRE VICTIMS
January 27, 2015
RIDGEWOOD, NJ – On Saturday, January 31st from 10am to 3pm,
four Keller Williams Realty sales associates will be collecting donations to help Avalon
apartment complex residents displaced by the devastating fire last week in Edgewater, New Jersey. The collection will be held outside the Ridgewood Fire Department headquarters, located at 201 East Glen Avenue (at the intersection of Maple Avenue and East Glen Avenue) in Ridgewood.
Requested items include toiletries such as shampoos, soaps and diapers, along with
ready-to-eat meals, pet supplies, and gift cards. No clothes are requested at this time. The collection will take place at the Jolly Trolley, which will be parked outside the fire station.
Maureen Ale, REALTOR® associate with Keller Williams Town Life in Tenafly and
owner of the Jolly Trolley, along with Crystal Burns and Rebecca Miller Pringle, also
REALTOR® Associates with KW Town Life and Susan Greenbaum, REALTOR® associate with Keller Williams Village Square Realty in Ridgewood, developed the idea to have residents drop off donations at the Trolley.
“When we heard about the fire, we all wanted to do something proactive, so the four of
us visited the Ridgewood Fire Department to see what could be done,” said Greenbaum. “After sharing our idea with the firefighters and fire Captain Hellerman and Chief Van Goor, we all felt this would be a great way to help the residents of the Avalon during this very difficult time.” The FMBA Local #47 has already generously donated ten $25 Walmart gift cards.
The Jolly Trolley is an actual trolley bus with all interiors seats removed. Ale, who
typically uses the Trolley for birthday parties throughout Bergen County, couldn’t think of a better way to have the Trolley help make a difference in a community.
If you would like to help victims of the Avalon apartment complex fire in Edgewater,
please bring your donations to the Trolley outside Ridgewood Fire Department headquarters this Saturday, January 31st between 10am and 3pm. Ale, Burns, Greenbaum and Pringle will be on hand to accept your donations before bringing the Trolley down to Edgewater to personally deliver the items.
Individuals with any questions regarding this collection may contact Crystal Burns with
Keller Williams Town Life at (201) 925-1228.
Ridgewood NJ, Since the Ridgewood blog had come up more than once in the last few civility meetings Mayor Aronsohn and Jan Philips reached out to us for an invite so we updated our Last Will and Testaments and graciously accepted .The meetings of the Civility Round Table are held on Tuesday’s, once a month at 7:30 PM in the Ridgewood Village Hall Senior’s Lounge. Residents are encouraged to attend .
The meeting started promptly at 7:30 and was to my mind well attended given the time of the year . Jan Phelps hosted the meeting , with Mayor Aronsohn and Councilwomen Hauck . Everyone introduced themselves representing various groups and organizations in the Village , from the BOE , the Planing Board , the Ridgewood Library ,several local clergy , the HSA’s , RBSA and may other fine organizations that serve Ridgewood as well as a few residents . The purpose as stated by the Mayor is to create a more civil discourse in the Village .
Civility is about more than just politeness, although politeness is a necessary first step. It is about disagreeing without disrespect, seeking common ground as a starting point for dialogue about differences, listening past one’s preconceptions, and teaching others to do the same. Civility is the hard work of staying present even with those with whom we have deep-rooted and fierce disagreements. It is political in the sense that it is a necessary prerequisite for civic action. But it is political, too, in the sense that it is about negotiating interpersonal power such that everyone’s voice is heard, and nobody’s is ignored. https://www.instituteforcivility.org/who-we-are/what-is-civility/
The group seemed to agree that Ridgewood is a town where people like to excel , and that drive and those expectations create a very passionate , as you can see from blog comments and opinionated populace . People care about their community and thats a good thing , but many felt that sometimes we all go a bit to far .
We looked at the causes of incivility , the when and why .Sheila Brogan long time BOE member , felt that todays parents had a lot of additional pressure and worried that in todays world their kids would have a hard time doing as well as they have done . She went on to speak about the changing times and how one could expect to have several careers over a life time ,all this she though made being a parent a lot harder than it was in the past and a lot more pressure .
We managed to go till 8:08 be for someone mentioned the elephant in the room, “I want to talk about the blog”…….
I learned a lot , mostly that I am glad I can sit in my PJ’s drinking coffee writing a blog getting yelled at by anonymous commenters ,and don’t have a tuff job like the RBSA people who are pulled in many directions ,by so many demands all at once .
There were interestingly a surprising large amount of blog enthusiasts there some open and some secret admirers .
While I could see there were some sore spots , like turf fields , PSEG ,sports issues , Valley Hospital , the Village Hall renovation and alas Marty Brooks the daggers were lowered for the night .
While anonymity of blog posters took a hit as expected some pointed out that even on facebook were you know who everyone is the comments can be even nastier . A resident put it down to a type of “keyboard bravado.”
PJ’s Rules
1) Stick to issues don’t make it personal
2) Don’t take anything personal
M. Forni’s 25 Rules:The 25 Rules of Considerate Conduct
1. Pay attention
2. Acknowledge others
3. Think the best
4. Listen
5. Be inclusive
6. Speak kindly
7. Don’t speak ill
8. Accept and give praise
9. Respect even a subtle “no”
10. Respect others’ opinions
11. Mind your body
12. Be agreeable
13. Keep it down (and rediscover silence)
14. Respect other people’s time
15. Respect other people’s space
16. Apologize earnestly and thoughtfully
17. Assert yourself
18. Avoid personal questions
19. Care for your guests
20. Be a considerate guest
21. Think twice before asking for favors
22. Refrain from idle complaints
23. Give constructive criticism
24. Respect the environment and be gentle to animals
My family and I would like to offer our most heartfelt gratitude for the support that has been shown to us during these difficult days since our house fire on the day after Thanksgiving. Living in Ridgewood for over 20 years, we have always known our community to be extremely special and we now know just how blessed we are to be counted among you.
In the bleary-eyed days after our fire, my family was deeply touched by people dropping off gift cards, bags of bedding, clothing and necessities, hugging us, crying with us, and offering anything to help ease our losses. These were not empty gestures, the concern and the tears in their eyes helped us realize we were not alone and had the support of an entire community – whether close friends, I taught their child, or we see each other in the supermarket. My family knows now, more than ever, what an exceptional community we have and how lucky we are to be among such gracious and caring people.
We know we are incredibly blessed to have been shown such kindness and concern. Whether people cooked and delivered a meal, brought much-needed clothing, donated a gift card, treated our dog to a toy she lost, or just hugged me and cried with me on our dear friends’ porch, please know that none of us will ever forget what was done to help ease our transition through this turmoil. We will continue to pay this kindness forward and continue to support community members in need, in the ways that have bolstered us, whether it was through RHS Cares, Benjamin Franklin Home & School Association, Ridgewood Veterinary Hospital, BF staff (where I am lucky enough to work!), Ridgewood Lacrosse Association (which replaced equipment for my son so that he could play that weekend!) or through an individual gesture.
Ridgewood Fire Department to replace ‘barely functioning’ boiler
DECEMBER 22, 2014 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2014, 3:48 PM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Firefighters are used to handling extreme heat, but extreme cold? Hopefully not.
A boiler in the main firehouse, located at 201 E. Glen Ave., is in danger of “imminent failure” if not replaced soon.
“The boiler is barely functioning right now,” Village Engineer Christopher Rutishauser said last week. “If it fails during a cold period, we might not have heat for a number of weeks.”
The Village Council voted last Wednesday to accept a bid from Allied Boiler and Welding LLC for $23,000 to immediately replace the boiler.
Fire Chief Jim Van Goor said an employee from the village’s signal division noticed the boiler was leaking and rusting on one side.
The department will likely have to set up temporary portable heaters in the two to three days it will take to replace the boiler, the chief said.
For that, the council approved spending up to $17,500 for temporary heat for when the boiler is replaced or if it fails before it is replaced.
