Fire Rescue News -FOLSOM FIRE COMPANY SHUT DOWN
FOLSOM -- A war is now being waged in a small Atlantic County community after its volunteer fire department was shut down. Members say they received no notice. The mayor explains why the borough made the move, but firefighters are crying foul.
"We're just all in shock." Kyle Smith, a Captain with the Folsom Volunteer Fire Company says they couldn't ......Continue Reading
believe their eyes when they arrived at the department Thursday morning to find the borough had removed their trucks, eliminating their operation. "They've never come to us with any problems, any issues, anything of the sort, this is just completely out of left field," said Smith.
"It's like being told one of your best friends or relatives is dead," said firefighter, Byron Gummoe, "It's very hard to fathom the mayor would do something like this."
"We've been in discussion with them for the last 12 months at least, about what we needed to see happen over there to sustain that fire company," said Folsom Mayor Thomas Ballistreri, about the move.
They mayor says a shared services contract between the borough and the nearby Collings Lakes Fire Department was just finalized Wednesday night by council members, which led to the actions taken at the department Thursday morning. "The situation basically arose out of financial constraints long with public safety concerns," said the mayor by phone, "The company has dwindled away over the last several years down to what I would call barebones staffing."
The company has 10-15 active members to serve the small Atlantic County community, but fire officials say that never prevented them from doing their job. "We've never missed a call," said Smith, "we've never had any issues, there's never been any major problems."
Now it's a question of what will happen with the two trucks that were removed, which are borough property, and the building, which fire officials say they own. "We were served with a lawsuit this morning, so essentially they are tying to get all of our assets as well as our building," said Smith.
"The equipment they have is all public property, it's not their property," said Ballistreri, "the borough and the taxpayers own all their property."
Property the mayor says will likely be sold off eventually, with the money going into the borough's budget, another move in an escalating battle between the department and the borough's governing body. "We are in the process of contacting a lawyer and we're gonna see what options we do have," said Smith.
Members of the volunteer fire company will be holding a meeting, which is open to the public, Thursday night at seven o'clock at their station on Mays Landing Road, in an effort to figure out where they go from here
This story was taken from the news source stated above. It's content and comments are not necessarily the opinion of The Elwood Vol. Fire Company or it's members.
