1. What should I do if my fire alarm or carbon monoxide alarm sounds?
Call the Allendale Police immediately then get yourself and the rest of your family out of the house, even if you may know the reason for the activation. The Fire Department is highly trained and uses advanced technological equipment to help them determine the reason for the activation and to ensure peace of mind for you and your family to reoccupy your home. Sometimes the activation may NOT be what you think and you could put yourself and your family at risk by not dealing with it. Remember, it is NEVER a bother for the firemen to come and check your home in any event. Also, do NOT reset the system before we arrive. Yes, it is loud and annoying but we need to check to make sure everything is in order. A Fire Chief in all cases will respond to determine the need for fire department intervention.
2. What should I do if I smell natural gas, whether inside or outside?
Natural gas leaks can be dangerous and are to be taken seriously. If the odor seems like it is indoors, don't activate any ignition source, such as turning on a light, lighting a match or turning on the stove. If you are able to open a few windows, go outside and then call 911 or the Allendale Police at (201) 825-1900 to report the odor. Opening the windows will help prevent a buildup of any gas with in the structure, whereas it could reach its explosive limit (typically 4% to 15%). The Allendale Volunteer Fire Department and PSE&G will be dispatched to your home to assess the severity of the situation by using special gas detectors.
3. What should I do if I smell a burning odor, observe smoke or find a fire in my home?
Evacuate yourself and your family immediately, then run to a neighbor's house to dial 911. DO NOT GO BACK INSIDE! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PUT ANY FIRE OUT BY YOURSELF! Your Allendale Volunteer Fire Department is highly trained through countless hours of academy instruction, in addition to ongoing drills every Thursday night at the station. They will respond quickly and perform a bang-up job extinguishing the fire. Also, an added advantage for the firemen is the protective gear they wear from head to toe which helps them as they make their way through your house under dangerous conditions.
4. What type of calls do you encounter?
As the seasons change so do the type of calls we encounter. In the winter, we deal with chimney fires, so make sure they are professionally cleaned each year. We also have been called to mitigate boiler problems, such as puff-backs or full blown boiler fires. These appliances should be serviced routinely. In the spring, summer and into the fall we're ready for brush fires, electrical emergencies, severe storm emergencies and such. The fall and early winter months usually yield carbon monoxide emergencies and the chimney problems amoung others. Many of these calls can occur on any given day at any given time, and we are prepared to handle it all.
5. Do you guys pump water out of basements?
99% of the time - no. However, if a reasonable "dangerous" condition exists, then we'll be activated to come by and assess the situation. In most rainfalls where you get typical water seeping into your basement, we're not to be called. During the annual "100 year flood" (so it seems) when you receive Lake Erie like conditions in your basement, then chances are the pilot light was extinguished, the gas will continue to flow and you you've got yourself a legitimate crisis for us. You can request a Fire Officer to respond to make an assessment.
6. I'm always hearing sirens. Do you guys have a lot of requests for your services?
That'll be the police or ambulance or maybe even the paramedics. The firemen run about 250 calls each year. Some weeks we'll run a half dozen calls and others we'll respond once or twice. The majority of them are alarm activations or odor investigations. Occasionally there's a structure fire or a vehicle fire or once in a blue moon a brush fire. We've done the famed "cat stuck in a tree" call and even an exotic bird "stuck" in a tree. We are sometimes called upon to clean up hazardous material spills or assist our fellow neighbors with house lockouts. We've cut up cars badly mangled in wrecks to retrieve the passengers and/or driver.
7. What kind of fire trucks does the Allendale Fire Department have?
The fleet consists of 2 engines (or pumpers), 1 aerial ladder truck and a rescue truck. One engine is capable of pumping 2000 gallons per minute. Our ladder truck's aerial device can reach as high as 75 feet. The rescue truck has 3 pre-connected "Jaws of Life" rescue cutting and spreading tools for car wrecks, plus a wide variety of other tools for specific rescue scenarios. We even have an old 1953 Mack engine which represents a piece of our history. The Fire Chiefs are outfitted with Command vehicles to use for all incidents. A donated Jeep Grand Cherokee used as a "support" vehicle and an old pickup truck to tow our confined space trailer round out our fleet.
8. I'm interested in becoming a volunteer firefighter. How do I go about joining?
We're at the firehouse every Thursday night, so you could stop by then to pick up an application. Our friendly firefighters would be happy to assist. We do have a "New Membership Review" committee that will be happy for a sit down interview and overview of what's expected of you.