FUNDING

in the state, and it is $43.80 an hour or what amounts to about $85,000 per firefighter, plus benefits.

“My concern is we are going to exceed that amount, and we are basing this (meeting future funding needs) off building more houses and having additional ratables that are going to subsidize this,” Ward declared. “It seems like a pretty large gamble.”

Hornickel replied that officials would “not be bringing them on at that rate,” but rather “bringing them in at the low 40s” and that their hourly wages “would stay at that for three years.” However, he acknowledged, any hired firefighter would “certainly form a union and negotiate for higher salaries down the road.”

“Right out of the gate, we are certainly not paying $85,000,” Hornickel said.

Detrick inquired whether there would be a secondary problem created by such a program, or that the volunteers might want to be also compensated for doing similar work as the career firefighters. The fire director/business administrator responded that it is “not uncommon” for fire departments in Burlington County to have paid firefighters during the day, and volunteers at night, citing Bordentown as example, revealing that is where he resides.

“My thing has always been the safety of our community, and we have approved things much bigger than this,” declared Councilwoman Elisabeth McCartney. “That is what I am thinking here, especially with us being number one for fire hazards in the county.”

McCartney’s questioning of Hornickel brought out that the hires the department plans to make with any funding would have a “dual title,” or the firefighters would also be trained as EMTs.

Still, there seemed to be some doubts amongst the rest of the councilmembers about the plans for any future such program and how it would be funded.

“I would indicate there are towns with smaller populations that have paid fire departments,” Hornickel said. “We are a town of 27,000 people, we are the fourth largest municipality, and we don’t have a paid fire department. And we probably have the most risk.”

McCartney agreed that the “delay” of having to wait for mutual aid firefighters because there are no firefighters based locally “can be life threatening.”

“We are looking to hire six firefighters because we have to be able to staff four people on a truck, so to do that, for six days a week, and to also factor in people taking time off with vacation, call outs, personal days, etc., we need six people to cover four positions six days a week,” Hornickel explained.

Ward responded by saying he is “all for it,” but that he would “just like to see a more detailed layout of what this is going to look like for the township,” with Gardner retorting that the business administrator just said that “if we get the grant and after three years we don’t have the money for it again, we dissolve the paid portion of the department.”

The resolution allowing the fire department to apply for the grant for a second time was approved in a 4-1 vote, with Dewey, who also questioned the reasoning behind the 2011 closure of the town’s Magnolia Road Fire Company, casting the lone vote of opposition.

After Dewey suggested the closure of that particular fire company was “over funding,” Gardner said there is “more to that story,” and when Dewey asserted, “let’s hear it then,” the council president responded, “maybe at another time, but there is more to that story.”

(A report from back then in a daily newspaper said that the closure was because of a drastically shrinking volunteer base that led officials to cut funding for the firehouse that was established back in 1951 and move its apparatus to other fire companies within the township, with thenmayor David Patriarca quoted as saying there was nobody in the building responding to calls anymore, and while “we didn’t want to close the firehouse, and we didn’t technically close it, we chose to stop supporting it.”)

Dewey, on April 5, also pointed out that at a previous council meeting, Fire Chief Craig Augustoni stated that “within two years, and in no more than two years, we will need two fire trucks at a million dollars apiece,” to which Hornickel retorted, “We will need them regardless of whether we have career or volunteer firefighters.”

In light of Hornickel stating on the record there is currently a shortage of volunteers during the dayshift, “if our volunteers can’t carry the load, then our homes will burn to the ground,” and that “we need firefighters,” this newspaper later queried him as to what the plan is up until any grant award announcement is conveyed, and in the event a grant is not received at all.

“We currently have the Volunteer Fire Chief (Augustoni) responding to daytime service calls,” Hornickel replied. “If the call involves a structure fire or wildfire, we have four Public Works employees who are authorized to leave the job site (so long as they are not in the middle of a task they can’t abandon) to fight the fire. We are fortunate to have four employees on staff who also serve as volunteer firefighters. That is not a sustainable arrangement, but will continue as the status quo pending the outcome of the grant application. We also continue to rely on mutual aid.”

Kim, prior to the meeting, on March 27, had put out a press release announcing that the township had just received $200,000 from FEMA to help recruit, train, and retain firefighters.

“I’m proud to have been able to help Pemberton Fire and the township get this grant so they can better recruit and retain firefighters,” said Kim in a statement contained in the release. “My favorite part of this job doesn’t happen down in Washington, it happens here at home – being out in the community, hearing directly from constituents at each of my monthly town halls, and working hard to deliver tangible results. I’m confident this grant funding will be impactful for our brave firefighters and will help support new firefighters that want to protect our community.”

The congressman explained that the SAFER grant program was created to provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations to help them increase or maintain the number of trained, “front line” firefighters available in their communities.

“The SAFER grant will be a big boost to our all-volunteer firefighting force and will continue to help us recruit and retain capable volunteers to protect our homes, farms and businesses throughout the town,” said Augustoni in a statement in the release. “We are grateful for this latest round of funding for our volunteers.”

Augustoni was not present for the April 5 council meeting, however, in which the SAFER grant program was discussed at length. Hornickel, however, who is over Augustoni as the township fire director, explained that the received grant money will be used for “recruiting and retaining volunteers,” specifically giving them a “duty stipend” for “response to calls.”

“We are thrilled to accept the SAFER grant on behalf of our first responders and volunteer firefighters who continue to do excellent work in protecting our township and responding to fire calls,” said Pemberton Republican Mayor Jack Tompkins through the release. “We also appreciate the support from Congressman Kim’s office in helping us to secure this funding source for the next four years.”