{"id":6997,"date":"2026-08-20T10:38:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T10:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=6997"},"modified":"2026-08-20T10:38:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T10:38:06","slug":"nj-fire-department-shut-down-after-118-years-as-mayor-claimed-residents-were-not-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=6997","title":{"rendered":"NJ fire department shut down after 118 years as mayor claimed residents were not safe"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Flamed out.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Read more I\u2019m the surrogate mother trying to save a baby\u2019s life \u2014 but the biological parents wanted an abortion<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac said at the meeting. \u201cThis issue was not about finances but about public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

The department\u2019s eight paid firefighters were allowed to keep their jobs and work elsewhere within the township along with the volunteer firefighters.<\/p>\n

Council members met with the NJ Local Finance Board that approved the ordinance in a unanimous 7-0 decision, according to McCormac.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur 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,\u201d McCormac said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d the longtime mayor contended.<\/p>\n

McCormac said Keasbey had the largest fire district taxes in Woodbridge while being the smallest district with the fewest calls.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d McCormac said.<\/p>\n

Keasbey Fire officials alleged McCormac\u2019s claims about the number of calls had been false, saying the department had responded to an average of 16 calls a month over the last year compared to the \u201c10-12 responses per month\u201d found by the state report and \u201cbarely one call a week\u201d <\/p>\n

Read more Texas Senate hopeful James Talarico once claimed \u2018God is not a Christian,\u2019 defended abortion during 2023 sermon<\/a><\/p>\n

The department said it had responded to 10 calls in the week ending on Aug. 12.<\/p>\n

A petition, with 1,452 signatures, was made in opposition to the dissolution, calling to end the \u201cmerger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor more than 118 years, the Keasbey Fire Department has faithfully protected the residents, businesses, industries, and visitors of the Keasbey community. Since 1908, generations of firefighters have answered emergency calls, protected lives and property, and served with courage, dedication, and pride,\u201d the petition read.<\/p>\n

The Keasbey Fire Department, initially named the Protection Fire Company No. 1, was created following a fire that broke out at the Ostrander Fire Brick Company, which exposed community members to the fact that there was no proper fire district in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than accept that loss, the people of Keasbey chose to act,\u201d according to the petition, revealing the fire company formed on June 1, 1908 and has served the small community west of Staten Island since.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Keasbey Fire Chief John Manna accused McCormac and the town council of back-channel private negotiations and keeping the department in the dark until the last second, a claim the mayor has denied.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did not receive the due courtesy of an explanation by township officials of what you wanted to do, why you wanted to do it, what the process was going forward and the potential impact upon our operations,\u201d Manna said, according to NJ.com.<\/p>\n

Fire district attorney Howard Pashman claimed the township wanted to dissolve the department because a developer had purchased up surrounding properties and the firehouse was the last thing standing, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only missing piece of that puzzle is the firehouse where Fire District Number 4 is located at 420 Smith Street,\u201d Pashman said at the meeting. \u201cThat\u2019s the missing piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fords Fire District is now the title owner of the former Keasbey Firehouse and will make the final decision on selling the building, McCormac said during the town council meeting on Aug. 18.<\/p>\n

Read more The DSA\u2019s leaders are so privileged they can\u2019t even see the insanity of their ideas<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Woodbridge voted to dissolve the 118-year-old Keasbey Fire Department and merge it with Fords, saving some homeowners $1,000 a year in taxes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-metro"],"yoast_head":"\nNJ fire department shut down after 118 years as mayor claimed residents were not safe - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=6997\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NJ fire department shut down after 118 years as mayor claimed residents were not safe - 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