Fire Rescue News - Linwood fire department seldom asked to help fight nearby fires

By STEVEN LEMONGELLO Staff Writer | Posted: Friday, March 26, 2010 | 8 comments

From left: Deputy Chief Chick Kisby, firefighters Rich Richmond,

Tim Poley, and Steve Kroger and Capt. Dave Appleyard stand in front of the Linwood Volunteer Fire Department last month.

LINWOOD — When the Mainland Medical Center in Northfield went up in flames in December, about 70 firefighters from six different companies were called in to fight the blaze.

None, however, were from the neighboring Linwood Volunteer Fire Department — stationed less than a mile and a half away.

The department was not called by any other department for mutual aid in 2009. That’s unusual among the developed suburbs of Atlantic County. The neighboring Northfield Fire Department — about the same size, with about 30 members and......Continue Reading

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 also mostly volunteers — was called for mutual aid 13 times in 2009, while the slightly larger Somers Point Volunteer Fire Department, with about 40 members, was called 69 times.

Area fire officials cite a number of reasons for the lack of aid calls to Linwood, including concerns about training, equipment, demographics and even a hint of personalities.

“We have a truck dedicated to go out of town, with a full crew and everything on it we need,” Linwood Fire Chief Demetrios Foster said. “But we haven’t gotten called. ... Somers Point, I forgot what number they are on the list of calls for mutual aid. They designate a series of towns, and I don’t know where we’re at with them. Northfield, I don’t know what’s going on.”

“I don’t know how to phrase this,” said Linwood Deputy Fire Chief Charles “Chick” Kisby, “but there’s been a little bit of conflict between the top echelon and some other companies.”

Nobody from any department would talk further about the role personal differences may play. But the main issue for Linwood officials was that volunteers — but not the few paid members — have to be Linwood residents when they recruit. And Linwood isn’t the most affordable town for people in their 20s or 30s.

“That’s the biggest problem,” Foster said. “We get new members all the time. But what happens is that you end up with a bunch of young guys who have to move out of town because they can’t afford to live in it. ... You look at people who do live in town and, personally, they’re more on the wealthy side.”

The average age was in the mid-50s before newer members were brought in. Now the average age is about 40, Foster said.

Some members were Linwood residents who then moved to other towns, he said. Most of the paid members also live out of town, making for occasional, if brief, moments of difficulty if Linwood is called for mutual aid. When Linwood answers a mutual aid call, its own firehouse may be left uncovered until the paid firefighters arrive, Foster said.

Skills and equipment a factor

A mutual aid policy is in place among all Atlantic County fire companies, although county Fire Marshal Harold “Whitey” Swartz said individual companies have their own preferences for whom to call during specific situations.

The Somers Point Volunteer Fire Department has a standing order to call the Northfield Fire Department — on the opposite side of Linwood from Somers Point, as it happens — if it needs a “fast team” standing by. A fast team, otherwise known as a rapid intervention team, would react in case of a structure collapse or if firefighters were trapped inside a building.

If Somers Point needs “cover” companies on stand-by, Swartz said, they call Scullville and Bargaintown.

But, Swartz said, “You don’t want to keep calling companies right next to you. It leaves a big hole in the grid, and then you have to worry about covering their stations.”

Somers Point Fire Chief Frank Denan said the reason his first call is to the Northfield and Egg Harbor companies is that he’s looking for a specific type of apparatus — Swartz mentioned tanker task forces and large diameter hose task forces — or a specific group, such as a fast team.

“Not every company in the county is trained to that magnitude,” Denan said. “Some companies just can’t produce what we need. Linwood, a lot of times, just doesn’t have the personnel needed. ... (Companies) need to be able to do whatever task is asked for,” though he added, “I’m not singling out Linwood.”

“Sometimes,” he concluded, “you just have to bypass your neighbors.”

‘We’re all there to help’

Lauren Crooks, the assistant chief of the Northfield Fire Department, gave similar reasoning.

“Basically, it’s about the level of training and specific equipment,” Crooks said. “Some departments have different training than other departments.”

As for the fact that Linwood hasn’t been called recently, there’s “no specific reason,” he said. “It’s just that some of the fires, we’ve pretty much been able to control by ourselves.”

Egg Harbor Township Fire Chief William E. Danz Jr., meanwhile, said that it was a matter of “how guys work together.”

“Egg Harbor Township and Somers Point work together a lot,” Danz said. “Egg Harbor Township and Northfield work together a lot. We’re very compatible and our manpower is very compatible. Not to say that Linwood is not, they’re just not into the same depth of programs as Northfield and Somers Point are when it comes to aid.”

Linwood, Danz said, “is kind of in the middle. It’s not that they’re not wanted. There are times when Linwood does come out to the township, and when Linwood needs help, we go to Linwood.”

“We’re all good friends,” he added. “We’re all there to help each other.”

 Somers Point budgeted $138,000 in 2009 — $40,000 in salaries and wages and $98,000 in other expenses — for a volunteer department that had 420 calls in 2009. Though Northfield and Linwood each had a similar amount of calls in 2009 (242 and 217, respectively), they greatly differed on how much they appropriated to their fire departments. Northfield budgeted $641,000 for fire services in 2009, while Linwood budgeted just $285,732.

Linwood firefighters, meanwhile, defended their levels of training. Three are at advanced incident command levels, though the department does not have a fast team.

Foster said the department was invited to join in rapid intervention, fast team training several years ago when Northfield received a grant for fast team equipment — but after the grant was satisfied, he said, that training stopped.

The main issue, he said, was to get the word out there that Linwood is looking for eager young volunteers.

“We go to calls and we’ll hear, ‘Oh, I thought we had all paid officers. I had no idea you were volunteer,’” he said. “People aren’t seeing the big picture.”

Contact Steven Lemongello:  609-272-7275  SLemongello@pressofac.com