HISTORY
of the
NORTH WILDWOOD FIRE DEPARTMENT |
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 The
paid or career division of the North Wildwood Fire Department was established with part-paid driver/operators, or “housemen”
in the mid 1920’s. It’s first known
Chief of record was Woodrow Hall around 1925. One
Firefighter was on duty in each of the city’s firehouses of
which there were two. Their jobs included not only extinguishing
fires, but operating what was then considered modern day apparatus.
They also took great care of the stations and some of them actually
lived in them around the clock. The firehouses were located at 18th
& New Jersey Ave’s which is now Woody’s Café
and ironically was owned by the Hall family. The other station was
located at 3rd & Central Aves in what was known as the Anglesea section of the city at that time. That building was a 3-story structure
that also housed some city hall offices. A fire destroyed the top
floor and eventually became a 2 story building containing only the
fire department. |
The department continued to respond out of the
18th Ave. house until 1927 when a new station
was erected at 15th & Central Aves. This station was shared
by both the paid and volunteer firefighters as was the 3rd Ave
station. |
In 1943, the members of the department
applied for and were accepted into the New Jersey State Firemen’s Benevolent Association and became North Wildwood FMBA Local
56. In 1945, elected
officials established
a paid fire department by city ordinance. |
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 In 1971, a new station was constructed for the Anglesea
members at 2nd & New Jersey Aves. This lot was donated to the
firemen by the ladies auxiliary so that they could build this station.
The 3rd Ave house was simply too small for the newer apparatus that
was being built. Firefighters continued responding out of this new
station up until 1994, when it was decided that
it was much safer for two firefighters to work and respond together,
plus the city had envisioned to add a new entity to the department
in the near future. |
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 Firefighters were then combined into the 15th street station with
two on duty until August of 1995 when
that vision by the city had become reality. The fire department
took on the responsibility of providing emergency medical services,
and now responded to all medical incidents, further housing two
ambulances in addition to their Engine. All career and part time
firefighters as well as officers are now EMT certified. From approximately
the 1940’s through the 1960’s, the
fire department did provide ambulance service with one firefighter,
sometimes two, driving it to incidents, and picking up the sick
and injured, but unable to provide the level of care that we do
today. That was only due to the lack of knowledge and training on
the state level, we are sure that these firefighter’s took
the necessary care for those patients the best they knew how, with
the same energy and enthusiasm as they took in fighting a fire.
It was then taken over by a newly formed volunteer rescue squad
in the early 1970’s, and provided service
through the early 1990’s. Now, as many as
6 firefighters man three pieces of equipment at the height of the
summer season and provide protection to its residents and summer
vacationers. In a sense, the department has come full circle. |
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  The
current career division moved into a new station that was constructed
for their use as well as the city’s Office of Emergency
Management on November 30, 2000. The land it
is built on was the former rescue squad building site.
The department currently works a 4 platoon system ( two 10-hour day tours followed by two 14-hour night tours) during the busy summer months, and a 3 platoon system (24-hour tour followed by 48 hours off) during the winter months. There are currently 13 career Firefighter/EMT's including the Chief. The career Firefighter/Emt's operate and staff the ambulance and a engine company 24/7/365 with an average on location time of under 3 minutes. In 2009 the career division responded to over 2000 emergency calls!
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The
department has also placed into service a 2003 E-One Quint
purchased by the city with the aid of a federal grant. This
Quint replaces a 1978 American La France Century Pumper that
the career division used for over 25 years. |
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