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The Fire Department provides fire suppression, fire prevention and emergency medical care to the Township of Union. In addition to fires and medical aids, the Department responds to other emergency calls such as rescues, highway accidents, hazardous material incidents, etc. 93% of all Firefighters are also certified Emergency Medical Technicians, the remaining are 1st responder qualified. All Firefighters are certified to utilize Semi-Automatic External Defibrillators “SAED” that are carried on all fire apparatus, ambulances and command vehicles. These “SAED” are available for all medical incidents from three (3) decentralized locations providing minimum response times. The Department operates five (5) in-service, five (5) recall/reserve fire apparatus, three (3) basic life support ambulances, a tactical support unit, mobile decon unit, and three (3) special hazard response vehicles from three (3) stations. The Union Fire Dept. is part of the Urban Area Security Initiative, and staff a large caliber firefighting foam and water delivery system, used to combat the bulk fuel and chemical fires on land and sea in the NJ/NY metro area. Fire Headquarters – 1 Bond Drive, Station No. 2 – 2493 Vauxhall Road and Station No. 3 – 1221 Morris Avenue. All Stations are manned 24 hours a day by career Firefighters.
The Union Fire Department responded to 6,059 fire and emergencies in the year 2007 and 5,645 in 2008.
In addition to a regular complement of one hundred seven (107) career firefighters, the Department employs six (6) civilians. There are approximately seven (7) volunteer firefighters (paid on-call) who respond to certain incidents via a radio paging system.
The Fire Prevention Bureau is the local enforcing agency for the State Uniform Fire Safety Code. The bureau provides fire code assistance, technical inspection, enforcement of Municipal Fire and Life Safety Ordinances and interfaces with other State and Municipal Agencies such as building, health, multiple family housing, education, etc. The Department provides certified fire investigators to the Union County Fire Investigation Task Force. All Department members provide Public Fire Education to schools and civic groups. The bureau members utilize a mobile “Fire Safety House” as a classroom to teach burn education, smoke drill evacuation and weather related emergencies in a real-life setting especially targeted to our children and seniors. The Division is also involved with the Juvenile Education and Intervention program, which is aimed at fire prevention through evaluation of juvenile fire setters, assessing their fire setting behavior. This is in conjunction with DYFS (Division of Youth and Family Services) and the Union County Health Department.
Visitors are always welcome at any Fire Stations to inspect equipment and meet your firefighters
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