NJ fire department shut down after 118 years as mayor claimed residents were not safe

Flamed out.A New Jersey fire department that has helped a community for over a century was shut down following a years-long push from the mayor to close the historic firehouse, who felt insufficient staffing created unsafe conditions for residents.The Woodbridge Township Council voted 8-1 on Aug.12 to pass a measure that will dissolve the 118-year-old Keasbey Fire Department and merge the district with neighboring Fords Fire Company.“We stressed that Keasbey residents were not currently safe with the situation that exists and that not having proper firefighter response to a structure fire was in fact an emergency,” Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac said at the meeting.

“This issue was not about finances but about public safety.”The department’s eight paid firefighters were allowed to keep their jobs and work elsewhere within the township along with the volunteer firefighters.Council members met with the NJ Local Finance Board that approved the ordinance in a unanimous 7-0 decision, according to McCormac.“Our presentation noted the history of our concerns with Keasbey going back to 2021, and our requests to the state to perform the study in 2025 and the report the state issued in 2026 recommending the merger,” McCormac said.“We spoke about the inability for Keasbey to respond to fires with the recommended number of firefighters in order to gain access to a structure and with the required number of firefighters responding to a scene within the mandated time frame,” the longtime mayor contended.McCormac said Keasbey had the largest fire district taxes in Woodbridge while being the smallest district with the fewest calls.“We mentioned in the property tax savings resulting from the merger and that the average homeowner would see a $1,000 per year drop in fire district taxes in Fords compared to Keasbey,” McCormac said.Keasbey Fire officials alleged McCormac’s claims about the number of calls had been false, saying the department had responded to an ...