Extra Aid to Camden Makes Collingswood SAFER

When U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) announced today that they’d routed $5.7 million to the city of Camden for the hiring of new firefighters through the FEMA SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) program, it was also a win for Collingswood. 

Mutual aid arrangements with the borough’s impoverished neighbor mean that the extra boots on the ground those dollars buy could someday save the lives of Collingswood residents, says Fire Chief Keith Davis.

“We’re one of the most densely populated towns in the county, so per capita, in fire calls, we’ve been the busiest, and third-busiest in EMS calls,” he says. “We do a lot of mutual aid help, we receive a lot of mutual aid help.”

That volume is part of the reason that Collingswood has a concurrently operating staff of professional and volunteer , Davis says. Mutual aid agreements enhance their skill set by allowing the borough to share services, training, and other expenses with other, nearby local fire departments.

“If we had a fire right now, we’d get [aid from] Gloucester and Westmont automatically,” Davis says. “If it was a working fire, we’d get Cherry Hill added on to that. In the extension part of our town [West Collingswood Heights], we get Camden on that side.”

That aid is need-based, and doesn’t expire even in times of financial crisis. For example, Collingswood engines were dispatched less than a month ago.

Even after budget cutbacks eliminated the jobs that the SAFER money will help to restore, Camden City never stopped answering mutual aid fire and emergency service calls from its neighbors, Davis says. 

That’s a good thing, he adds, because even in a town like Collingswood, which maintains such a robust complement of emergency services, workers can’t be everywhere at once.

“Even here in the surrounding towns, it’s not like it used to be where there was hundreds of volunteers,” Davis says. “People have two jobs now. The training requirements are a lot stricter, and it’s a lot of time for someone to volunteer, especially with their family obligations.

“With that amount of less manpower, it’s a lot for us to pull together and maintain that level of service,” he says.

Perhaps most importantly, Davis reminds us, the old saw of the atheist in the foxhole remains true today.

“The name on the side of the truck really makes no difference as long as the people are getting the same level of service,” he says.