The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
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Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Fire Department proudly welcomed a new firefighter and celebrated two well-deserved promotions during an official swearing-in ceremony .
Continue reading Ridgewood Fire Department Celebrates Promotions and New Firefighter
file photo by Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, from Jeremy P. Kleiman OEM Coordinator and Keith Kazmark Village Manager ,”in light of recent storm events that caused flooding to areas of the Village near the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook and Saddle River, we want to again share critical sources of information which provide awareness to the extent of potential flooding. In addition to monitoring local weather reports for current weather conditions, we encourage all residents to sign up for the Village’s Emergency Alert Notifications through Ridgewood’s Everbridge account. The link can be found on the Village website by clicking on the red banner at the top of the homepage. In addition, you may access the registration page at the links below:
Continue reading VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT FLOODPLAIN RESOURCES
photo courtesy of Village Manager Keith Kazmark
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Continue reading Ridgewood Fire Department Takes Delivery on a New Ambulance
file photo Boyd Loving
Reader says The Ridgewood Fire Department provides the most cost effective Fire Service by having a career staff backed up by a volunteer staff.
Having an part paid and part volunteer (called combination Department) the Ridgewood Fire Department is hardly a luxury. There are 3 communities in Bergen County, including Ridgewood, that have a combination department. The Ridgewood Fire Department provides the most cost effective Fire Service by having a career staff backed up by a volunteer staff.
Because the Ridgewood Fire Dept. has career Fire Inspectors the Village has always had a very low incidence of fires, usually less than 3% of the total incident calls between 2010-2012.
For the 35% of the calls that involve life saving rescues or emergency medical calls, where time is the difference between life and death, the career staff has an average response time of 2 to 4 minutes. A volunteer only staff would take 3 to 4 minutes just to respond to the Fire Station and then take another 4 to 5 minutes to reach the person in need of immediate care. A total of 8 minutes or more is not acceptable in fire or medical situations.
The operating cost is not only reasonable for the Fire Dept. but for most residents the cost for Fire Service is a deductible item on their Income Tax Return (property taxes) at the same rate that their tax rate is for their Federal 1040, which reduces the cost of the service by up to 35%, while at the same time the Fire Dept career and volunteer staffing provides an ISO rating of 2 which is responsible for the low fire insurance rates residents and commercial property owners enjoy.
Someone said “But the operating budget ignores the long-term cost for new equipment & buildings…..” This is just one example of how uninformed this person is, the cost for buildings, training, Firefighter protective gear, injury insurance, fuel, Apparatus and uniforms, to name just a few things, are all part of any department career or volunteer.
The same person talks about a very generous defined benefit pension & healthcare benefits for life for police and firefighters. The same could be said about the employees of the BOE, yet this individual has yet to examine the 90 Million dollar BOE budget the same way they focus on the 5 Million Fire Dept. Budget which makes me wonder……
