Jersey City announces new high-rise firefighting companies, June 30, 2022

The backdrop of Jersey City luxury high-rises was a fitting setting for the announcement.

With the skyscrapers more than doubling over the past 30 years — and with no signs of a slowdown — the Jersey City Fire Department has established two new companies and a unit specially equipped to respond to fires inside high-rises, Mayor Steve Fulop and fire officials announced Thursday.

“Over the last 10 years, we made an unprecedented commitment to fire safety throughout Jersey City,” Fulop said at a news conference at the Marin Boulevard Fire Headquarters. “We’ve hired more firefighters than at any point in Jersey City’s history. We’ve promoted more firefighters, and we worked hand in hand with our firefighter unions to make sure we are staffing appropriately the JCFD.

“It really is a significant change for the fire department, and it speaks to the changing dynamics of the city and the need to constantly rethink public safety on how we can do better.”

The new High-Rise Unit requires specialized training and equipment specific to high-rise fire operations.

The “first of its kind” Squad 1 has new high-tech equipment and will not only be able to respond to fires in high rises, but it will also serve as a Rapid Intervention Crew, said Fire Chief Steven McGill.

“(Squad 1) has the newest technology and equipment, all battery-operated tools which are usually gasoline powered, which reduces the amount of toxic fumes that we release in a high space in a high-rise.”

“(The Rapid Intervention Crew) is basically firefighters who save other firefighters. These members are at the scene right in front waiting with special tools to go in and rescue the rescuers,” said McGill, who noted that Squad 1 would be deployed to most fires with this purpose.

Firefighters showed off new battery-powered saws, fans to remove smoke from buildings, lights and the latest thermal energy camera to detect people inside buildings. These tools are more effective in condensed spaces, like tight stairwells in high-rises, and have no cords, which makes them more portable. Squad 1 is the only truck that will have them.

“These new fire companies will not only significantly expand fire protection for the entire community, but by providing specialized tools and training, our firefighters will be better equipped and better protected when they go into a fire and often risk their own lives to save others,” said Public Safety Director James Shea.

The JCFD will now have 28 locations and will be better able to accommodate the 20% population increase the city has seen since the 1991 when four locations were removed because of bad economic conditions.

The city now has 240 high-rises, as opposed to 102 in 1991, McGill said. Nearly 20 more are in the planning phase and there are 90 applications waiting to be approved.

Squad 1 and Engine 1 will be using refurbished fire trucks, costing one-tenth of what new ones would cost, McGill said. The Squad 1 vehicle was used for 16 years as a mass care response unit for larger events and has been renovated with the help of the Urban Area Security Initiative federal grant.

Engine 1 will use a nearly 15-year-old truck that was recently refurbished and will be in full-time operation after a year of being a reserve truck. The two new departments will help serve Downtown and the eastern side of Journal Square.

Also in attendance were Councilmembers Denise Ridley and Mira Prinz-Arey, who both thanked the JCFD for all their challenging work and for adding two new companies to match the growth of the city.

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