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BY JOHN SNYDER
OF PASCACK PRESS
MONTVALE—Residents eagerly took the Montvale Volunteer Fire Department up on its invitation to help celebrate and dedicate its new firehouse, at 35 West Grand Ave., on Saturday, Oct. 6.
You didn’t have to be a boy or girl to enjoy hopping aboard the fire trucks and meeting the borough’s volunteer firefighters but the many bright-faced kids in attendance certainly made the most of the occasion.
With the sounding of the new fire bell—a donation of the Montvale Chamber of Commerce, whose leaders had the honor of ringing it—the kilt-clad Rockland and Bergen pipe bands paraded up the driveway, wailing “The Caissons Go Rolling Along.”
Behind them in procession were the Fire Department and Color Guard.
The site’s flagpole and flags are the gift of Wegmans, which opened in the borough last September.
In addition to the governing body, officials attending were U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-5); Thomas J. Sullivan Jr., chairman of the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders (as well as a Montvale electrician); and freeholders Germaine M. Ortiz of Emerson and Mary J. Amoroso of Mahwah.
Umbrellas popped up but nothing kept young families away from the open house’s bounce house, hot dogs, popcorn, and cotton candy.
As part of the ceremony, Mayor Michael Ghassali and the Borough Council unveiled the building’s cornerstone, which is engraved “2016.”
The old firehouse, dedicated in 1955, was in serious need of repair since at least 2008.
In 2010, an architectural assessment revealed numerous cracks throughout the building, worried at its lack of steel supports for a bay, dinged the roof as in poor shape, and found there was mold.
In 2014, when the borough hired Robbie Conley Architect, LLC to design the new firehouse, then-Mayor Roger Fyfe told Pascack Press, “It’s just all falling apart. It’s just an old building. If you can get 60 years out of a firehouse, I think that’s great—but the building is only going to get older.”
In December 2015 the governing body approved spending $5.1 million for a new, red and yellow two-story firehouse at 16,000 square feet. It finished at just over that cost, Ghassali said.
Councilman Tim Lane, the borough’s fire commissioner, said at the time that the venerable firehouse had served Montvale well.
“If you look at a picture of the firehouse as it was originally built, it was a lot smaller, but as Montvale has grown so have our firefighting needs—and that’s why we’re building a new firehouse: not just because this firehouse needed some repairs but because we fundamentally need to recognize the importance of having our volunteers in a responsive, safe environment. We pledge that this will be money well spent,” he said.
Officials broke ground for the firehouse in 2016. Ghassali said at the time that first spadeful of soil marked the culmination of more than a decade of hard work “to realize a dream and aspiration to have a state-of-the-art, safe and ready to serve firehouse for all of us.”
He added, “This will probably be the only groundbreaking ceremony for a firehouse in Montvale that you or I will ever see.”
At the Oct. 6 festivities, the mayor said the facility has “that new car smell” and proclaimed it “Your firehouse; we are just the keyholders.” He added that it would serve the community “for at least the next generation.”
He praised immediate past Fire Chief Clint Miller, department members, and Miller’s committee, which met on the project twice a month for two years.
Benediction was by department chaplain Edward M. Hasse III.
The first floor is mostly operational space—engine bays for five fire trucks, each with its own exit—plus plenty of office and storage space. On the second floor are training areas, bunkrooms, showers, a kitchen, and decontamination rooms.
The department maintains its 9/11 memorial on site, and the department’s antique fire truck is on display and visible from Memorial Drive.
Members return from out of state
On Oct. 10, with a video of Montvale’s new firehouse’s open house and dedication reaching 1,100 views on YouTube, Fire Chief Geoffrey Gibbons told Pascack Press that apart from the weather the day was fantastic.
One of the best parts of the day was that several former members returned to help celebrate, he said: “Once you’re in the brotherhood you’re always in the brotherhood.”
One came from Upstate New York, two came from Alabama, one returned from Florida, and one former member flew in from the Middle East to be with Montvale on this historic occasion.
“It was fun seeing everybody. We really had a good time,” Gibbons said.
Gibbons, who served under chiefs Miller and Kevin Kratzit, is taking his second tour as chief: he helmed the department from 1997 to 1999.
“I had to deal with Y2K; that was the big disaster at the time,” Gibbons said.
He added that he was pleased to see so many young people at the open house, and said the department had kicked off a membership drive with the dedication. Anyone interested is welcome to visit the firehouse on a Thursday night, when the department has meetings, “and see what it’s all about.”
He added he is reaching out to the high school to recruit for the junior firefighter program.
“We’ve picked up some really good members that way,” he added.
Asked for stats, Gibbons said membership stands at approximately 40 firefighters, with some 35 listed as active. The department fields 220 to 240 calls a year—“If you get a storm like Floyd or Sandy you can bump that up by 100”—though with new construction in the area “We’re probably going to be 340-ish this year,” he said.
That’s because Public Service Gas & Electric has increased the number of gas calls to fire departments on behalf of customers who call in some types of complaints, he said.
He added that as the batteries run low on occupants’ carbon monoxide alarms the devices beep for attention and firefighters are called to respond.
“I’d rather go to 400 false calls than have to go the real thing,” he said.
The department also fields its share of mutual aid calls, mostly to neighboring Pearl River and South Spring Valley, N.Y.
Asked what his members were most excited about with their state-of-the-art facility, Gibbons said “It was really nice to get out of the DPW garage,” where the department was based during construction.
The showers and other amenities are nice too, he said.
“The big thing now in firefighting is if you can smell smoke [on your clothes and gear] you’re breathing in carcinogens. Now you can take care of that stuff at the station. You don’t have to bring it home,” he said.