Six New Jersey Firefighters Under Investigation

Posted by: Curt Varone September 30, 2015 2 Comments

Six New Jersey firefighters have been suspended or removed as an investigation is underway into allegations of sexual harassment of a female firefighter, sending threatening text messages, and forcing of a vehicle off a road.

The firefighters are all volunteers from the town of Hammonton, and reportedly all of the conduct involved members of the department as perpetrators and victims. According to Mayor Steve DiDonato, “It was all internal — volunteers allegedly doing this to other volunteers.” In other words, the public was not involved.

Pressofatlanticcity.com is following the story and quoted a former assistant chief from the department, Sam Sofia, as saying: “It’s ridiculous that it comes to this. … Some of the guys mentioned in your article I’m not very fond of … but a man is innocent until proven guilty. I don’t think they should be dragged around town and ridiculed for things nobody knows if they did.”

The mayor and the town council are overseeing the investigation. More on the story.

About Curt Varone

Curt Varone has over 45 years of fire service experience and 35 as a practicing attorney licensed in both Rhode Island and Maine. His background includes 29 years as a career firefighter in Providence (retiring as a Deputy Assistant Chief), as well as volunteer and paid on call experience. He is the author of two books: Legal Considerations for Fire and Emergency Services, (2006, 2nd ed. 2011, 3rd ed. 2014, 4th ed. 2022) and Fire Officer's Legal Handbook (2007), and is a contributing editor for Firehouse Magazine writing the Fire Law column.
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