‘Our goal is to come back,’ Holmdel fire chief says after company is disbanded

May 01--HOLMDEL -- With an unanimous Township Committee vote to disband Fire Company #1 on Tuesday night, the fire company now begins another fight -- to meet the conditions that officials set for it to return to active duty.

See the earlier story, "Holmdel Fire Company makes its final case."

"I think if they want it to happen, only they can make it happen," Committeeman Gregory Buontempo, chairman of the emergency services committee, said of the company's effort to be reinstated.

The emergency services committee worked with officials on the restructuring plan that created a central fire station and replaced the 97-year-old fire company with a fire truck stored in a garage on the Vonage corporate campus. However, officials said the Vonage location is temporary and there are no plans to outfit the building as a full fire station. Fire Company #2 continues to serve the north side of the township.

The conditions for a return to active duty include training Fire Company #1 firefighters to meet standards set by the township's insurance company and the branch of Occupational Safety and Health Administration that covers public and government workers, said Buontempo and Mayor Patrick Impreveduto.

"We've confirmed Company #1 did not train for the last year and a half and made inaccurate statements on training," Buontempo said, adding the company also declined to participate in a county-wide drill and told neighboring municipalities that it wouldn't provide mutual aid to nearby fire departments.

Buontempo said there were 30 occasions when Fire Company #1 was called but did not respond, including calls to schools, Bayshore Medical Center and an accident on the Garden State Parkway.

After the meeting Tuesday, Doug Ziemba Jr., president of Fire Company #1, disputed the allegation that 30 calls went unanswered and that the company refused to answer calls for mutual aid from neighboring municipalities. He said they planned to meet the committee's requirements to be reinstated.

"There are no 30 incidents (the company didn't respond to)," Ziemba said. "Our goal is to come back and do what we have to, to meet the township's requirements."

Regardless of whether Company #1 is reinstated, the new central station at the municipal complex on Crawfords Corner will remain in service, Impreveduto said. Mechanical problems with the fire truck stored at Vonage are being repaired and it will be back in service Friday.

All active duty firefighters will have to meet physical requirements and take an annual physical exam, said Donna Vieiro, township administrator. Firefighters who fight fires inside burning buildings will have additional standards to meet, she said. Other changes could be coming for Fire Company #1 to return to service.

"It's a requirement of the (emergency services) committee that the culture and leadership change," Vieiro said.

Impredevuto said the communication, which has started between Fire Company #1 and township officials late last week, needs to continue.

"I'd like to mend the wounds that transpired over the past 10-15 years. There is a lot of animosity between the (fire) companies, that's paramount," he said.

"What has to happen is we've got to work together and train together so we have one unified standard," said John Boyle Jr., Fire Company #2 chief. "I hope they (Company #1) can do it."

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