Wednesday, January 17, 2007 4:49 PM EST

Report suggests leaving OFD alone for now

By Patrick Justin Fahey, Staff Writer

ORANGE, NJ - The final report on the feasibility of sharing fire services between Orange and Montclair is complete. If the results are heeded, the two municipalities will maintain separate departments.

“After thorough review and analysis, it became apparent that there was a lack of common boundary lines between the principal communities of Montclair and Orange,” the report begins. “We discussed with representatives of both towns that the lack of contiguous jurisdictions would make it difficult for any major use of each other’s suppression resources. Also, it may make it more difficult for any plan that would mold all of the fire resources of both towns into a single department. This would apply as well to an integrated fire department.”

The report does, however, indicate there may be some non-fire suppression economies of scale of which the departments can take advantage.

One saving would be for Orange to support Montclair’s continuing effort to develop a technical-rescue capability. The benefit for Orange would be a dependence on Montclair’s system without having to construct one of its own.

Other savings areas noted were information technology, fire apparatus, fire-apparatus maintenance, and training and education.

The report also stated that although a Montclair-Orange merger is not practical, bringing a third municipality into the fold may make a merger worthwhile. This could be significant because Orange has begun shared-services talks with West Orange.

The report also gives an overview of both fire departments and is quite critical of Orange.

In the report’s staffing review, it refers to the fire director’s position  as “a civilian fire director who is appointed by, and serves at the pleasure of, the mayor.”

The report addresses the department’s unstructured administrative division.

“While the City of Orange Fire Department’s administration functions, it does so without clearly defined authority or responsibilities,” the report stated. “Predicated upon the type of incident and on-duty availability, these officers will also respond to emergencies to assist in providing command and control functions.”

The report then addresses the department’s rank of deputy chief.

“Additionally, these (deputy) chief officers are frequently utilized to work tours when a chief-officer shortage is experienced in one of the tours,” according to the report. “Essentially, the responsibilities normally associated with those of a fire chief are shared among these three officers, with the ultimate, yet unofficial, responsibility falling to Deputy Chief Martin DeMarzo, who has been designated ‘Senior Administrative Chief’ by Fire Director Allen Barnhardt, serving as the first-line senior ranking officer for all administrative issues and overall command of all large-scale operations.”

This finding is significant because DeMarzo successfully sued the city for its failure to recognize him as chief with the title, pay and benefits that go with the position.

Despite his successful lawsuit, the city has not acquiesced and has decided to appeal the decision.

The report also calls for an increase in staffing; The city’s two fire unions have called for this measure for some time.

“It is apparent that the under-staffing of each group is having a negative impact on the Orange Fire Department and the city of Orange,” the report stated.

“Numerous studies have demonstrated time and time again that a crew size of a minimum of four persons in total is required in order to safely and efficiently operate modern fire apparatus,” the report continued. “The current practice of operating the aerial apparatus with as little as a single fire-fighter is inefficient and in conflict with the nationally accepted standard on the subject of fire-apparatus staffing.”

The report calls for a staff task and function analysis, including for the fire director. “The fire director’s position should have a written job description prepared and posted as part of the department’s operating procedures. The current ordinance specifying the position of fire director is so ambiguous that even the fire director had difficulty in providing a clear definition.”