Neighborhood Fire Contract Wars

By Brad Pinsky

Every once in a while, a would-be litigant takes a “shot over the bow” of a neighbor mutual aid fire department when the continued service of the fire company is on the line. A trend across the nation appears to involve municipal consideration of other fire companies to serve the territory traditionally served by the complaining fire company.

This is but one example. Here, one named and several unnamed “officers” of the Pattenburg, New Jersey Volunteer Fire Company, a fully volunteer fire company, have served a “Notice of Claim” (ie: notice of a potential lawsuit). To be clear, this is not a lawsuit.

The Notice of Claim asserts that since May 2018, numerous neighboring fire departments have attempted to interfere with business relationships in an effort to close the fire department so that other fire departments could provide the services. Several entities are named as potential defendants, including but not limited to the State of New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Division of Fire Safety; The County of Hunterdon, New Jersey, Quakertown Fire Company, Milford Fire Company, The Township Fire District #1’s Board of Fire Commissioners, and several individual fire chiefs and other officials, among others.

The Notice claims that Union Township hired a consultant to resolve a difference between the Quakertown Fire Company and Pattenburg Fire Company, but that the real reason for the hiring was to shut down Pattenburg. The Notice further claims that the consultant’s real goal was to help convert Quakertown from a volunteer company to a paid company and to expand their territory to exclude Pattenburg VFD.

Pattenburg further claims that the consultant filed false complaints with the New Jersey Division of Fire and Safety and the State’s employee safety division (POSHA DOH) against Pattenburg.

Pattenburg claims that it has been defamed by Quakertown Fire Company and others by stating that Pattenburg did not have sufficient staffing or manpower and that its equipment was outdated. As a result, Pattenburg claims that its contracting town withheld contract payments for services.

Interestingly, the Claim asserts that Tim Weiss, an individual employed by the State of New Jersey’s Department of Community Affairs, Division of Fire safety, falsely represented that he was acting on behalf of the State of New Jersey and falsely claimed that Pattenburg was incapacitated.

The Claim goes on to accuse the other Respondents of conspiring to “ensure that Alexandria Township would no longer work with the Pattenburg Volunteer Fire Company and to remove the Pattenburg Volunteer Fire Company as the primary service provider for the area it covered for Alexandria Township”.

As a result of the above alleged actions and others, Pattenburg claims that Townships have withheld funding and that this lack of funding is impacting its ability to provide new gear or to maintain its vehicles.

Here is a copy of the notice of claim: