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Watchung updating ordinance about false fire alarms

By LAURIE LEVOY
STAFF WRITER

The Home News
http://www.mycentraljersey.com

The borough’s Fire Prevention, Fire and Police Departments are working together to amend a borough ordinance covering false alarms.

Fire Inspector Gary Greves said the three departments decided to update the existing ordinance, which he said has been in place for years.

The amendment will ask homeowners whose alarm systems are wired and monitored through the central police station to notify borough authorities when any work, particularly contracting work, is under way.

Greves explained that the amendment seeks to make sure residential fire, burglar, carbon dioxide or medical alarm systems are in good, working order.

A reduction in responses to false fire alarms will be also be a byproduct of the amendment for the borough’s all-volunteer Fire Department, the fire inspector added.

“Painting fumes, sanding dust and power equipment are all potential alarm triggers,” Greves said.

The amendment has had a first reading and a public comment period is planned for the community.

Upon approval of the amendment, educational outreach will be the first prong of the ordinance’s enforcement.

“We would update and educate our residents through the fall newsletter,” Greves said. Enforcement of increased penalties for false alarms would be the next step.

Boy Scout burned in camp accident dies
Saturday, July 12, 2008
BY MARYANN SPOTO
Star-Ledger Staff
.
http://www.nj.com
One of three Boy Scouts burned during horseplay at a camp Sunday has died, authorities said yesterday.

Sean Whitley, 17, of Marlton died Thursday at Temple University Hospital’s burn unit in Philadelphia, where he was in critical condition since the accident at the Joseph A. Citta Boy Scout Camp in Waretown, said Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford.

An autopsy is scheduled for today, she said.

Authorities said Whitley was one of three Scouts watching a “ring of fire” demonstration in which an 18-year-old Scout, a member of the camp staff, lit a ring of rubbing alcohol on fire.

An ember ignited the stream of alcohol as the Scout poured the liquid for another demonstration, and the Scout tossed the bottle and flaming fuel on the observers, authorities have said.

Whitley — a member of the camp staff — and a 14-year-old Scout were flown to Temple University. A third Scout, a 17-year-old, was treated and later released at Southern Ocean County Hospital in Manahawkin.

Neither authorities nor the Boy Scouts would identify the other Scouts involved.

Deputy Chief Michael Mohel, a spokesman for prosecutor Ford, said the 14-year-old is in critical but stable condition in the Philadelphia hospital. He said a ring of fire demonstration was not a Scout-sanctioned activity but noted the investigation is continuing.

Craig Shelley, Scout executive for the Boy Scouts’ Jersey Shore Council, said the group was notified Thursday of the death.

“This is a very difficult time for our Scouting family,” Shelley said in a statement. “First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the family of this young man and our camp staff. The safety and security of our Scouts and staff is our absolute top priority and we are working with the local authorities in relation to this tragic incident.”

Call off the heat in Califon
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Editoral
The Star Ledger
http://www.nj.com

State officials insist the annual firemen’s carnival in Califon, Hunter don County, poses a hazard be cause the hot dogs, hamburg ers and other carnival fare are prepared in cooking areas that lack fire suppression systems. The state’s enforcement focus is half-baked at best.

Not only is the food grilled up by the firemen themselves, who presumably know how to douse a grease fire, but the grills, stoves and the like are in gravel-floored sheds that are open on three sides, with fire extinguishers close at hand and firetrucks a few steps away. And the public isn’t allowed inside. People are served at waist- high counters on the edge of the three open sides.

Clearly, closed kitchens and dining rooms with limited exits these are not. Yet the Department of Community Affairs’ Di vision of Fire Safety foolishly is treating the sheds as though they are regular, four-walled restaurants. The division has repeatedly issued violation no tices to the carnival, demanding that expensive automatic suppression systems be installed in the food sheds or that the sheds be shut down.

This is silly. Even if the small fire department could afford the cost, which it cannot, the department would be guilty of flagrant waste if it spent $75,000-plus to install a sup pression system for sheds that aren’t worth one-tenth that amount. There is no compelling reason to do so, anyway.

The purpose of the state fire code is to protect public safety. But open-sided sheds staffed by firefighters cooking funnel cakes and other treats don’t significantly endanger public safety.

Carnivals must get fire safety permits every year. But in some years the Califon fair has been cited for not having the sup pression system, while in other years it hasn’t. That record cer tainly doesn’t support the claim of an imminent safety threat.

The Califon department is still appealing a 2005 citation that said cooking could be done only outside the sheds. But an administrative law judge shouldn’t be needed to resolve this matter. A smidgen of common sense in Trenton would do the trick.

Grant promotes fire prevention activities
Friday, July 11, 2008
The Warren Reporter
http://www.nj.com

The Hackettstown Bureau of Fire Prevention has received a grant from FM Global, a leading property insurer of the world’s largest businesses.The $1,150 award will be used to help with fire prevention activities in the town, educate the community and reduce the number of fires. Michael Alvarez, the town’s fire official, accepted the award on behalf of the bureau.

Because fire continues to be the leading cause of commercial and industrial property damage around the world, FM Global has contributed millions of dollars for more than 30 years to fire services and related agencies. A number of New Jersey companies have received grants from the Rhode Island-based company.

“At FM Global we believe the majority of property damage is preventable, not inevitable,” said Michael Spaziani, manager of the company’s Fire Prevention Grant program.

“We are pleased to make funding available to organizations that share the same philosophy,” Spaziani said. “After all it’s much better to prevent a disaster than to recover from one.”

Fire Safety song about crawling under smoke, by New Jersey Fire Fighter Pete Smith who is a singer/songwriter, actor and artist.

Fire company carnival might be its last

WALTER O’BRIEN
STAFF WRITER

The Home News/ http://www.mycentraljersey.com

This small town’s volunteer fire company has covered its expenses with proceeds from its annual carnival for more than 70 years, but ironically, a state fire official might be shutting the carnival down.

The Califon Volunteer Fire Department is the only self-supporting fire company left in the county, thanks to its annual summer fundraiser, the Califon Firemen’s Carnival.

“The state fire marshal wants us to spend $60,000 to protect three shacks that together are worth about $10,000,” said First Assistant Chief Bill Kibler. “They want us to install a restaurant style hood-type fire-suppression system that costs more than twice what we net in the carnival.”

Kibler said the company built the cinder block and plywood buildings with gravel floors to cook and sell hot dogs, hamburgers, clams and french fries. The structures are used only during the carnival, for about five hours a night, six nights a year.

As a firefighter, Kibler understands the fire marshal’s interest in public safety, but he feels the company has eliminated that issue because the public never is in the buildings where the food is prepared. People walk up and place orders, firefighters in the shacks cook the food and hand it back out to them.

“There’s nothing to burn, and we have firetrucks there every single night,” Kibler said. “There has never been a fire issue, and we have have insurance on the grounds and buildings.”

The carnival opened Monday, the fire investigator arrived, made his inspection and gave the company its permit with no conditions. But when the inspector came back Wednesday for the fireworks, he told the firefighters that on the orders of Bureau Chief Louis Kilmer, they had to receive a citation for not having the fire-suppression system.

“We have 15 days to appeal, so of course we’ll appeal it,” Kibler said. “It won’t affect this year’s carnival, but if we don’t have the suppression in place we can’t have the carnival next year. And without the carnival, we’re in deep trouble.”

Kibler doubts this is a coincidence. He said that in 2004 Kilmer was in charge of carnival inspections and gave the company its first citation requiring the suppression system. It appealed and won. In 2005 it was cited again, but appealed again and won.

Kibler said that around that time other events had the same problems, but after Kilmer was taken off inspections, the problems stopped. Now that Kilmer has returned, the citation is back.

“We assume we’re having this problem because we exercised our right to appeal and didn’t roll over,” Kibler said. “If Kilmer has his way, this will be the last Califon Firemen’s Carnival.”

Calls to Kilmer and the New Jersey Division of Fire Safety Bureau of Fire Code Enforcements were not immediately returned. The carnival runs 6 to 11 p.m. through Saturday at 37 Academy St., with fireworks scheduled for Friday night.

Deadly fires prompt national warning
Fire safety experts say most home fires preventable
Washington, DC – March 31, 2008 Fires strike across the
country, killing on the average nine people each day (one every
162 minutes) and injuring thousands. Each one is a tragedy,
and just within the past two weeks we have seen several
particularly horrific ones. Five children died in a house fire in
Arkansas, six people were killed in two fires within days of each
other in New Hampshire and four more died in Alaska. Fires in
Arizona, California, Iowa, New York, Colorado, Michigan,
Washington and Delaware have claimed lives, all within just the
past few days. On average, more than 3,200 people are killed
in fires and 16,400 are injured each year and, ironically, over
82% of these deaths occur in the very place that people feel the
safest from fire – their homes. These are tragedies for the
families, the communities, the nation.
So often these fires and their fateful outcomes are avoidable
through the use of proven fire prevention strategies and
education. By making the public more aware of the role that
they have in helping to build a fire-safe community we can
make tremendous strides, one home at a time, towards
reducing the loss of life and property that occurs every single
year.
We have joined together to redouble our efforts to reach out to
people across the nation to raise the national awareness of fire
prevention. We know, without a doubt, that by educating our
citizens about fire-safe practices and what to do if a fire should
break out we can reduce the losses in our communities and
work towards a fire-safe future for today’s generation and
beyond. Each of the organizations listed is committed to a
simple mission – saving lives. Some of the actions are ones
that can be done today, others are for the future. However, by
starting right now, we can someday point back and say that it
started today.

We have reduced fire deaths nationally during the last 20 years but the problem and sadness continues
to exist. We believe that we can further reduce our national life loss in this area by focusing on these key
areas:
• Install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside all sleeping areas and on every level of your home.
For the best protection interconnect them so when one sounds they all sound.
• Test them monthly to make sure they are working at all times.
• Residential sprinklers save lives. If you are building or remodeling, consider installing residential
sprinklers in your home.
• Smoking is one of the leading causes of fatal fires. If you smoke, put them out every time.
• Cooking fires are the leading cause of all fires. Stay in the kitchen when you are frying, grilling or
broiling food.
• Know two ways out, no matter where you are – your home, office, restaurant, movie theater.
• Always react to a fire alarm immediately.
QuickStats
The Overall Fire Picture – 2006
• There were 3,245 civilians that lost their lives as the result of fire.
• Nationwide, there was a civilian fire death every 162 minutes.
• There were 16,400 civilian injuries that occurred as the result of fire.
• Nationwide, there was a civilian fire injury every 32 minutes.
• There were 106 firefighters killed while on duty.
• Fire killed more Americans than all natural disasters combined.
• 82 percent of all civilian fire deaths occurred in homes.
• 1.6 million fires were reported. Many others went unreported, causing additional injuries and property
loss.
• Every 19 seconds, a fire department responds to a fire somewhere in the nation.
• Direct property loss due to fires was estimated at $11.3 billion.
• An estimated 31,000 intentionally set structure fires resulted in 305 civilian deaths.
• Intentionally set structure fires resulted in an estimated $755 million in property damage.
Source: National Fire Protection Association Fire Loss in the U.S. During 2006 and USFA’s Firefighter
Fatalities in the United States in 2006
-

N.J. to require self-extinguish cigarettes
Published: Saturday, May 31, 2008

From Press staff reports
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/184/story/171392.html
TRENTON - Starting Sunday, cigarettes that don’t self-extinguish when no one puffs on them will not be sold in New Jersey, the state Department of Community Affairs announced Friday.

The new rule is part of a fire-safety law passed by the Legislature and signed into law in May 2007.

Improper use of smoking material caused 204 house fires in New Jersey in 2006 and accounted for 14 percent of all civilian fire fatalities, according to the DCA Division of Fire Safety.

The new cigarettes will put themselves out if no one takes a puff, thus reducing the risk of fires caused when a smoker falls asleep with the tobacco still lit, said DCA Commissioner Joseph Doria.

Township to yank tavern’s license
Fire code violations at Bound Brook bar
The Star Ledger
http://www.nj.com
Friday, May 23, 2008
BY CATHY BUGMAN
Star-Ledger Staff
A Bound Brook bar faces a 145-day liquor license suspension for allowing upward of 150 revelers inside even though there was no electricity, but rather a generator running in a backroom near open cans of gasoline and near a room festooned with hanging flammable decorations, the mayor said yesterday.

The Rio Lounge on East Main Street is one of three bars cited for violations of local and state laws.

Mayor Carey Pilato said the Rio was issued 14 fire code violations for the Halloween night incident. The electricity had been shut off in advance by a utility company and two generators were brought in to power the bar because its battery back-up system was nonopera tional, he said.

One of the generators was run ning in a back maintenance room without ventilation in proximity to cans containing gasoline and paint, the mayor said. The other was set up in an alley near a side door, he said.

Netting and other holiday decorations were hanging from the ceil ing and exit lights were not illumi nated, he said. The general manager, whose family lives above the establishment, had made alternate lodging arrangements for them, the mayor said.

Borough Police Sgt. Jeffrey Raub investigated after noticing patrons entering the establishment without its exterior lights on. Fire Official Tom Ruscetta came to the scene and immediately shut it down, Pilato said.

“We were very lucky we did not have a Rhode Island-type fire at the Rio,” said Pilato, referring to the 2003 blaze at a West Warwick nightclub that left 100 dead and in jured many more. “The net cost for the 14 fire code violations that evening is a $40,000 penalty.”

He said the suspension was is sued for all charges, which include one logged last Aug. 13 for allowing a brawl on the premises that re sulted in a victim being stabbed multiple times, and another that the bar served an intoxicated individual who was involved in a traffic accident.

Robert Spengler, the attorney representing the bar, did not re turn calls for comment.

Rachel Goemaat, () spokeswoman for the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, said she cannot comment on the matter be cause the bar may appeal.

Pilato said he intends to sign a resolution adopted by the council at its meeting May 20 imposing the suspension today. Once signed, police will serve notice on the establishment, he said.

The two other bars cited by the borough council for liquor license violations are Good Times on Hamilton Street and Ooh La La’s on West Main Street.

Good Times was found guilty of two charges: For allowing people to be on the premises after closing, and for selling, serving or delivering alcohol after 2 a.m. April 7, 2007, Pi lato said.

At its April 22 meeting, the council agreed to a impose a 20-day suspension, but the bar is appealing that, he said.

The council also reached a settlement with the go-go bar Ooh La La’s for a six-day suspension.

May 3, 2008

The Home News

Safety, costs at issue in debate over sprinkler retrofits

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080503/SPECIAL03/805040305&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL&template=printart

By JOSHUA BURD
STAFF WRITER

As a state agency weighs a proposal to require sprinklers in New Jersey’s oldest high-rise buildings, a heated debate is taking place between sprinkler advocates and tenant groups who say they would bear the costs.

Legislation passed in 1987 required all new high-rises to be fitted with sprinklers.

But the state Department of Community Affairs recently found that about 490 high rises statewide lack adequate sprinkler protection.

The department is now considering an amendment to the state fire-prevention code that would require a retrofit of all high rises that are not fully fitted with automatic sprinklers.

The plan is highly touted by fire departments and safety advocates. The regulation would require building owners to complete the project within four years.

“We have to keep coming back to the fact that this is a life-safety issue,” said Vincent Fichera, executive director of the New Jersey Fire Sprinkler Advisory Board. “When a fire occurs in a high-rise building, fire sprinklers could be the difference between people living and dying.”

But several groups representing tenants and condo owners — those who would be most affected by a retrofit order — say the cost is unfair.

The Monroe-based New Jersey Apartment Association is one of several groups arguing that older high-rises were built with several features — such as extended burn walls and smoke lobbies that seal off smoke in elevator shafts — that already protect their buildings from heavy fire damage.

“No one feels unsafe in their homes because they were built to be safe and maintained well,” said Nicholas Kikis, director of regulatory affairs and research for the association.

The DCA’s Division of Fire Safety opened a two-month public-comment period late last year when the measure was first proposed, but that yielded several different cost estimates from the competing groups.

Sprinkler advocates put the price of retrofitting an apartment building at up to $7.50 per square foot, while opponents say the cost could be up to $30,000 per unit, paid for by rent hikes.

As a result, the state department is currently conducting a study to obtain its own cost estimate.

“During the comment period, various estimates were raised on this issue and DCA felt it necessary to perform its own analyses on this subject before making any further decisions,” said a statement Chris Donnelly, a department spokesman.

He said the state is working “in as timely a manner as possible” but does not have a timetable for completion.

Meanwhile, Kikis said his association and others against the proposal have sent about 1,000 letters of opposition to the department.

Critics say the cost to taxpayers could rise if the state pays for retrofits in high-rises containing affordable housing units. The price also could swell in buildings where environmental cleanup is needed for lead or asbestos, Kikis said.

“It would just decimate housing affordability in New Jersey,” he said.

He also said that most deaths in residential buildings occur in one- to two-family homes, not in high rises.

Yet backers of the proposal cite their own lists of payoffs to tenants: Sprinkler systems pay for themselves over time through savings on insurance and the cost of local fire services, according to the New Jersey Fire Sprinkler Advisory Board.

They also stress the safety benefits of functioning and well-maintained sprinklers.

“Our organization feels that this is a pressing need in the state right now,” Fichera said. “This is a life-safety issue.”

May 3, 2008
The Home News

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080503/SPECIAL03/805040312&template=printart

Equipment, training rise to new heights

By JOSHUA BURD
STAFF WRITER

How do you fight a fire in a 24-story building when your ladder only reaches the ninth story?

Firefighters face countless hazards when responding to a blaze in a high-rise — defined as a structure at least 75 feet tall — including physical stress, panicked evacuees and sometimes unpredictable conditions.

The number of towering structures in Central Jersey has risen in recent years thanks to several spurts of new development. With 105 high rises in Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties, this increasingly upward growth adds to the challenges to local fire departments.

“We hope that we never get those types of fires,” said George Borek, first vice president of the Professional Firefighters Association of New Jersey. “But the reality is when you get them, I’m sure a lot of departments are flying by the seat of their pants.”

But even with the treacherous nature of high-rise blazes, local fire companies say they are prepared to meet the challenges.

Though the state cannot regulate any department’s ability to fight high-rise fires, municipal fire departments across-the-board all set high standards for training, planning and building-safety inspections, all designed to prevent or prepare for the worst.

“They’re constantly training, keeping up with all the changes that are coming out. A lot of properties in the county have been developed now,” Middlesex County Fire Marshal Michael Gallagher said. “It adds more runs to the fire departments, whether it’s to false alarms or to large-scale fires. It’s increasing every year.”

Massive response

A recent incident in Monmouth County illustrates the demands of a high-rise operation.

More than 100 firefighters responded to Munroe Towers in Asbury Park in September 2007 for a blaze that broke out on the 14th floor of that high-rise apartment building. Firefighters were required to climb the stairs in order to battle the fire and rescue several residents who were trapped in their apartments.

A department responding to any high-rise fire is almost invariably in need of mutual aid, officials say. Because of the physically taxing nature of the operation — carrying equipment up many flights of stairs and contending with dangerous conditions at the top of the building — fire departments say fresh bodies are indispensable in a taller building.

“In the end it takes manpower,” Borek said. “Without manpower, you’re not putting out that fire.”

Dozens of firefighters are required in several key areas — in the building, on the ground and in the firehouses vacated by the departments responding, according Lt. Mike Daley of Monroe Township Fire District 3.

Daley, who is also an instructor at the Middlesex County Fire Academy, said a response to a high-rise fire includes at least four floors of operation.

The “attack” originates from the floor below the blaze, where at least two teams of firefighters hook into the standpipe before carrying their hoses up to the fire.

Two floors below the fire, responders may set up what Daley calls a “resource” or “rehab” floor, serving as a place where firefighters can be rotated, checked and rehydrated, as well as a place to store spare equipment such as air bottles and hose lines.

Other firefighters are assigned to search-and-rescue teams, checking the fire floor and the floor above, then working their way down from the top floor.

A department is also likely to set up a command center on the ground, where a commander is coordinating the fire-fighting effort, Daley said.

Meanwhile, additional firefighters are operating the engine to pump water into the building’s standpipe system.

“A lot of tactical decisions have to be made,” he said. “It’s a lot tougher than just fighting a fire in a house.”

Equipment needs

“Anything that we would need, we have. There’s no real magical spell that makes it easier,” said James Varrick, chief of the East Brunswick Independent Fire Company. “We’re just applying the tools we have in a different way.”

Varrick, whose department covers the 24-story “twin towers” off Route 18, echoes the consensus among fire officials — that high-rise firefighting, with respect to equipment, is essentially the same as in a ground situation.

But in order to get their gear up into a building, fire companies set up “high-rise packs” containing hose lengths, valves, nozzles and several other tools used to carry out their operation.

When the elevator is not available — a likely scenario — the equipment is inevitably being lugged up several flights of stairs. For at least some departments, high-rise packs contain equipment made with lighter-weight metals “so you don’t beat the guy up carrying them to the upper floors,” according to John Hauss, director of fire prevention in Franklin.

Other items in a high-rise pack include spare air bottles and search-and-rescue equipment.

Lessons from N.Y.C

A fire at the former Deutsche Bank building in New York City drew enormous attention in summer 2007 when two city firefighters were killed trying to extinguish the blaze. Investigators determined that a 42-foot piece of standpipe was missing from the Ground Zero high-rise, forcing firefighters to use ropes to raise lengths of hose up from the street.

Among several other factors that were compounded by missed inspections, the failing standpipe highlighted one of the key building features that have to maintained to stave off catastrophe.

“If that standpipe isn’t maintained, if it’s broken, if it’s clogged or anything, the fire department is not going to get water up there,” Gallagher said. “And that’s a big issue that has to be talked over with the building superintendent.”

The state’s Uniform Construction Code requires yearly inspections in high-rises, with checks for proper upkeep of standpipes, sprinkler systems, orderly stairwells and other key areas.

Meanwhile, fire-code officials are involved from the very beginning of construction to ensure that safety features are included.

But fire officials stress that there are always unknowns at a high-rise fire — the windows at the top of a building may not open, ventilation systems may not shut down.

And there is no telling how the occupants of the building will react during an evacuation, even when procedures call for them to stay in an unaffected part of the building, Gallagher said.

“You can have the best policy in place — but when there’s a fire, people are going to want to get out,” he said. “So no matter what you practice with them, they’re going to come out of that building.”

Focus on training

Despite the uncertainty of battling a high-rise blaze, local fire departments say they train for as many scenarios as possible.

Firefighters from throughout the state train at fire academies in both Middlesex and Somerset counties. A five-story training tower at the Middlesex facility allows veteran firefighters and cadets to simulate a response to a high-rise fire, in an exercise that includes climbing stairs, hooking into a standpipe, and performing search-and-rescue.

“It’s not only the initial training, but they keep coming back to refresh,” said Bill Petry, the senior fire instructor at the Sayreville facility.

Fire officials say familiarity with building dynamics is also paramount. Two equally important practices include having their departments do regular walk-throughs at their local high-rises and planning ahead for such operations.

Sprinklers

About 490, or nearly half of all high-rises in the state, lack adequate sprinkler protection, according to the New Jersey Fire Sprinkler Advisory Board.

Of all the variables at a high-rise fire, many fire officials say sprinklers make the biggest difference.

But several high rises in Central Jersey where built before 1987, when all new high rises were required to have full sprinkler protection. Now local departments are pushing for the state Department of Community Affairs to adopt a proposal that would require a retrofit of all buildings without a full sprinkler system.

“The bottom line is that this is going to save lives,” said Hillsborough Chief Fire Marshal Chris Weniger, whose township includes the three Claremont Towers, which were erected in the 1970s. “We’re trying to avoid having a tragedy for everyone.”

While municipalities are less visible in the debate between sprinkler advocates and tenant associations, which point to the financial burden of retrofits, Weniger called the local fire departments the “silent majority.”

“Last time I checked,” Weniger said. “We don’t put a price on human life.”

May 3, 2008
The Home News

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080503/SPECIAL03/805040307&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL&template=printart

The Home News

Safety measures lower fire risk in Central Jersey high-rise buildings

By JOSHUA BURD
STAFF WRITER

As firefighters at the Joyce Kilmer Avenue station scramble to respond to a fire downtown, a second alarm is sounded when the blaze is reported to be at a 16-story high-rise. Arriving at the George Street building minutes later, dozens of firefighters immediately go to “high-rise operations.” They grab their equipment and prepare for a grueling operation at the top of the towering building.

Each carrying more than 75 pounds of equipment, city firefighters are notified that the elevators are disabled, and they begin a punishing climb to the blaze.

On the ground, a fire engine roars as it pumps water from a fire hydrant into the standpipe system, sending hundreds of gallons of water shooting up into the building. Additional firefighters are constantly arriving on the scene, as other nearby departments respond to cover the rest of the city.

On the 13th floor, firefighters hook into the standpipe and carry their hoses up one more flight of stairs to begin their attack on the blaze.

In New Brunswick, home to 24 of Middlesex County’s 64 high-rises, the skyline is undergoing a dramatic change.

The downtown has added three buildings that rise 75 feet or higher in the last three years, including the 23-story One Spring Street building that became the tallest in the city in 2006.

And under two redevelopment plans unveiled recently, the city is poised to add at least six more high-rise buildings.

The proposed multiuse Pinnacle project would bring one 28-story high-rise and two 17-story towers, while a separate plan could put a new 34-story building on Livingston Avenue, in the footprint occupied by the George Street Playhouse and Crossroads Theatre Company.

Construction of the 18-story Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey at Little Albany Street is under way, and the Gateway multiuse project, designed to top out at 290 feet near the corner of Easton Avenue and Somerset Street, is set for a fall groundbreaking.

“The city is certainly evolving,” New Brunswick Fire Director Robert Rawls said. “It’s growing, progressing rapidly, and in a small city like this you can’t build out, so you have to start building up.”

The rush of upward development has revitalized the downtown and added to the city’s tax base, but it has also forced the Fire Department to prepare for the greater likelihood of a high-rise fire, a situation that presents responders and prevention officers with unique challenges.

As with blazes in all types of structures, avoiding catastrophe in a tall building is contingent on code enforcement and proper training, city fire officials say. And when responding to the scene of a high-rise fire, procedure becomes especially important.

“There is an art to high-rise firefighting,” Rawls said. “There is certainly no truck that’s going to reach the top floors of 25- or 30-story buildings. So high-rise firefighting is like most firefighting — it’s an interior job.”

In what he called a “tedious operation,” an operations center is usually set up two floors below the fire floor, he said. At one floor below the blaze, firefighters draw from the standpipe system, a floor-by-floor network of valves in stairwells that allows them to pump water from a hydrant, through an engine and up to any floor. After connecting, the responders “fight the fire as if it were a house fire.”

“We’re sending up anywhere from 12 to 16 guys, depending on what we need up there,” Rawls said. “Everybody’s working, whether they’re taking up spare equipment, whether they’re connecting on the floor below, or whether they’re actually fighting the fire.”

“Setting up is the important thing,” he said, and for this reason, adapting to the city’s upward development has not been a major challenge for the department.

Because firefighters are essentially bringing a ground operation to the upper reaches of a building, the spurt of high-rise development in the city’s downtown hasn’t required major new technology or equipment.

But Rawls said the department has undergone “drastic changes” in the last two years to keep pace with the city’s growth, including the addition of two new $340,000 firetrucks and six new firefighters, and the filling of several officer positions.

“We’re looking pretty good equipment-wise, but I’d say we’ll continue to keep up in personnel,” he said.

Although many newer buildings are built to prevent the spread of fires, Rawls and other local fire officials said that a number of hazards still exist for firefighters.

Many high rises are compartmentalized, with special walls to prevent the spread of fire to other units, but they also cause the confined fire to become hotter, he said.

The windows may not open in taller buildings, but firefighters are deterred from breaking the glass by the fear of injuring somebody on the ground or puncturing a hose line.

And the dangers awaiting firefighters in a newer, more fire-safe building are even greater in an older city building.

Rawls said one of the most glaring differences between old and new buildings in the city — besides their size — is the presence of a sprinkler system.

“A sprinkler system saves lives,” he said. “However if a sprinkler system malfunctions or fails then you’ve got a big situation on your hands.”

Roughly eight of the 24 high-rises in New Brunswick lack sprinkler protection, according to the New Jersey Fire Sprinkler Advisory Board.

So the city attempts to stave off disaster preemptively through oversight of its many buildings.

City Fire Official Bill Petry said inspections vary in high-rises throughout the city, depending on whether they’re residential, office or hospital buildings. The city’s several medical facilities are required to be inspected four times a year, as opposed to once a year for other building types.

Petry said little has changed about the way the city inspects its buildings. But he noted that the operation was streamlined about a year ago when the Division of Fire Safety merged with the Division of Inspections.

“Now when we do high-rise inspections for fire-safety code, we have the housing inspectors come with us,” he said.

Rawls said other city departments, such as police and public works, have also expanded to keep up with the demands of new development, and he acknowledges that a growing New Brunswick will require continued change.

“When you see a lot of buildings going up it can be scary to the ordinary person,” Rawls said. “But as a department head and as a director it’s my job to lobby that we do keep up with those things and insist that we have to grow as the city grows. And so far the city has been very cooperative.”

Edison secures federal grant for fire safety

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Edison Township has been awarded a grant from the Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Fire Prevention and Safety Program.

The $21,680 grant will go toward the purchase of hand-held computers for fire safety inspections and “Freddie the Fire Truck,” a fire-safety teaching robot used to assist fire prevention and safety education programs for local children.

The total cost for the hand-held computers and the educational fire truck is $27,100. The federal grant will cover 80 percent of the cost, with the Edison Division of Fire providing 20 percent, or $5,420, in requisite matching funds.

The grant was submitted online, and it is the first time Edison applied for funding from this program. Mayor Jun Choi said the grant’s acquisition is a direct result of the town’s decision to hire a grant writer.

“These funds will bolster our division of fire and help us better serve the residents,” Choi said. “We are extremely grateful to our federal legislators.”