At approximately 10pm on Thursday night the Bergenfield Fire Department's Alert Fire Co.#1 was dispatched to a apartment building on the report of a stuck occupied elevator.  Deputy Chief Lopez responded with an engine and a ladder.  Upon arrival officers of the Bergenfield Police Department had confirmed an elevator car stuck between floors with 12 occupants in the car.  Contact was made with the occupants and they were reassured that rescue operations were underway.

As standard elevator response steps were executed the exact problem with the car came into focus and the eventual rescue of the occupants became more complicated.  Since the car was mid-floor the best option as to manually lower the elevator to the next full floor and walk the occupants off the car.  When the elevator controls were accessed and locked out for safety it was determined that the elevator had apparently exceeded its safe speed which deployed the safety brakes on the car. These brakes are similar to the parking brake in your car and can only be released by a trained elevator technician once all occupants are removed. Plans for manually lowering the car had to be abandoned and the operation began to plan for removing the occupants by ladder to the next highest floor.

After assuring the power and hydraulics to the elevator were locked out to prevent unintentional movement firefighters brought a folding ladder up to the top floor and began to manually unlock and open the elevator doors. An ambulance was requested to respond as a precaution due to increased risk posed by the removal operation and also to evaluate the occupants who had been subjected to increased heat levels in the elevator car.

After unlocking and manually opening the elevator doors the folding ladder was slid down into the elevator car and the occupants were assisted up and out of the car one by one.  The occupants were temporarily corralled until they were identified and assessed by EMS personnel. All occupants were cleared by EMS and continued their visit to the building.

The elevators were left locked out until the following morning when trained elevator maintenance personnel could respond and safely return them to service.  All emergency responders were clear of the scene in approx. 90 minutes without any injuries.

The incident once again demonstrated the cooperative spirit which runs through the Bergenfield Fire Department, Ambulance Corps., and Police Departments has all responders worked together to ensure the well being of the occupants, the safety of all responders was also paramount throughout this incident and due to the cooperation and training of all involved the end result was a total success. 



 

In the early evening of Wednesday, February 1, 2012 the Bergenfield Fire Department's Alert Fire Company No.1 was dispatched to a South Washington Avenue commercial building for a hazardous condition.  Passing police patrol officers were alerted to water coming from the foundation of the building and suspected broken pipe.  Fire department units entered the building and found water had filled the basement to approximately 9-feet.  The building's gas and electric utilities were completely submerged and assistance from the utility company was requested.  United Water also responded and turned off the water in the street to prevent further flooding.

Due to concerns about potential impact of the water pressing outward on the exposed foundation walls the BFD special called its utility vehicle to the scene with pumps.  Members of the BFD deployed two portable pumps and began to pump down the water level.  With both pumps running at capacity the water level was lowered 8-inches in approximately 30 minutes.  When the water level no longer posed a risk to the foundation's stability the property was turned back over to the property representative.  During this response an additional alarm was transmitted for a problem with a furnace in a residence which was handled by Prospect Fire Co.#1.

While the Bergenfield Fire Department does not pump out basements as a general practice such as during heavy storms or power failures circumstances that pose a hazard to a building structure or utilities are addressed to the extent necessary to remove the hazards.  As the evening demonstrated the BFD strives to provide the best practical service to our community no matter the time of day or night.  Please don't ever hesitate to call on us should you suspect a fire or other hazardous condition is occurring.  We will take whatever action is practical to mitigate the hazard to protect life and property.

At approximately 0042 hrs., Central Dispatch requested a Bergenfield engine to respond to New Milford Company 1 to stand-by while they worked a fire in Oradell.



Engine 744 with a crew of 5 along with Deputy Chief Lopez (DC1) responded on the run.  While in New Milford they took in no calls and were returned in just over an hour.

Late in the morning of Saturday, January 14, 2012 the Bergenfield Fire
Department was dispatched to a North Washington Avenue gas station on the
report of a fire in the repair garage.  A general alarm assignment
consisting of two engines, ladder truck, rescue, and three chiefs responded
along with the Bergenfield Volunteer Ambulance Corps as a precaution due to
the potential for injury to firefighters.  First arriving police department
units confirmed a fire inside the building involving acetylene tanks and
provided updates to the Fire Chief.  Bergenfield Police Department officers,
under the direction of Sgt. Brian Dalton, quickly established a wide safety
perimeter on all surrounding streets and evacuated nearby pedestrians due to
the obvious risk if the cylinders ruptured.  Fire Chief James Lodato arrived
shortly after and established command of the incident, directing the first
due engine and ladder to take initial action to mitigate the emergency.
 

An adequate water supply was established by two area fire hydrants and a
hoseline was stretched into the gas station parking lot.  Firefighters
entered the service bays and were able to use a wheeled cart to remove the
oxygen and acetylene tanks from the building as a means to prevent the fire
from spreading to the two cars on service lifts.  Once outside the building
a water fog was utilized to cool both cylinders while the remaining gases
burned at their safety vents.  The temperature of both cylinders was
monitored via a thermal imaging camera and the cooling fog was effective at
preventing rupture of the cylinders.  Please see the photos below for a
screen shot of the thermal imaging camera showing both cylinders in bright
white, indicating the heat they had been subject to from the fire.

Within 45 minutes the cylinders had cooled and safety discharged their
gasses to the open air.  Fire units began to break down the hoselines and
hydrants allowing some traffic flow to be restored in the area.  An
investigation was initiated by fire department investigators and later
handed over to the Fire Official who took possession of the damaged cylinder
regulators and torch for further investigation.  Both cylinders, while
severely damaged by heat and flame, were able to be safely removed by the
gas supplier and all fire department apparatus departed the scene in just
over an hour.

Given the volume of pedestrian and vehicle traffic on Washington Avenue on a
Saturday morning this incident created an increased risk of urgency for all
of the emergency responders.  The cooperation provided by Sgt. Dalton and
his officers along with the Bergenfield Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
complimented the response of the Bergenfield Fire Department to bring this
hazardous situation to a safe and uneventful conclusion.  The commitment and
skill of all involved agencies combined to turn a potentially disastrous
event into little more than traffic delays for some area motorists.

At 0710 hrs on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 the Bergenfield Fire Department was dispatched to a private residence on Rector Court for a carbon monoxide alarm activation.  A daytime still alarm consisting of two engines, ladder, and command officer responded to the call.  Upon arrival the resident reported waking to an activated alarm from her plug-in carbon monoxide detector.  Utilizing air monitoring equipment firefighters checked the premises and determined that no carbon monoxide levels were present.  By using two different air monitoring devices the fire department is able to ensure that the equipment is working properly, especially if no hazards are initially detected.  In this case the carbon monoxide alarm was just over 10-years old and was sounding a malfunction which is consistent with the end of its useful service life.  The resident was advised to replace the alarm with a new unit and all apparatus was available from the scene within 20-minutes.

Residents are reminded that both smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms have a limited life expectancy.  Like most other electronic devices or appliances in our homes these alarms have a limited life cycle and their reliability can deteriorate over time.  Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms should be replaced before they reach 10-years of service or at any point when they malfunction or suffer physical damage.  The statistical safety value of properly maintained smoke and carbon monoxide  alarms far exceeds their initial cost as they have a proven track record of detecting smoke and hazards before occupants are seriously injured or killed.

If you are elderly, handicapped, or otherwise unable to check your alarms and change the batteries please contact the Bergenfield Fire Department, Fire Prevention Bureau at (201) 387-4055 Ext. 4074 to request assistance.  The Bergenfield Fire Department does not charge for its responses to emergency calls or to assist residents.  Please feel free to call upon us at any time if a fire occurs or if you suspect a hazardous condition exists with your appliances or utilities.