Fort Lee Fire Department Celebrates New Chiefs with Hopes for Safe Year

The newly elected chiefs and officers of the were officially sworn in at Thursday's Mayor and Council meeting. 

After the swearing in, the entire firehouse family and their friends went to celebrate with a party at newly-elected Chief Keith Sabatino's house--Co. 2 on Lemoine Avenue in Coytesville. Also present to congratulate the Chiefs and new officers were Councilmen Joseph Cervieri, Harvey Sohmer, Jan Goldberg and Michael Sargenti.

During his speech to the Mayor and Council Sabatino said, "Standing here tonight is the brotherhood of the fire department; a brotherhood that is unmatched by anything else out there."

That brotherhood gathered at Co. 2 Thursday night, represented by the generations of fathers and sons, who lined the bar and sat at the tables reminiscing about past chiefs, past fires and looking forward to the new year.  

Sabatino also summed up the essence of the department when he said, "The fire department is not an extended family, it is your family. We not only take care of each other, but we take care of each other’s family as if they were our own because, in a very special way, they really are." 

Back at the firehouse, Sarah Silver, daughter of outgoing Fire Chief Jeff Silver and Brownie extraordinaire, offered the crowd a chance to order Girl Scout cookies. If there is a trip to Disney World for the most cookies sold, there's little doubt that Silver became a major contender last night.

It's amazing how talk of working fires and firematic training can come to a crashing halt when a young girl holds out a Girl Scout Cookie order form. Captain "Cookie" Goldstein from Co. 3 entertained the table by discussing the finer points of Samoas, while others argued the merits of frozen Thin Mints. 

Unfortunately, Sarah's father, was not able to attend the festivities because, as a NJ Fire Marshall, he was called to investigate a fire that took the life of a firefighter in Woodbridge earlier in the day. It's moments like these that bring cause to pause. Every fire department family knows that when you take away the equipment and take away the state-of-the-art trucks, in the end, there's just the fireman and the fire. 

Sabatino had ended his speech before the Mayor and Council by saying, "There is a saying in the fire service, 'Everyone goes home.'"

Unfortunately Thursday night, there was a firefighter in New Jersey who didn't go home. Let's keep him and his family in our thoughts and prayers and hope for a safe year where every firefighter "goes home."

Congratulations to Chief Sabatino, Deputy Chief Mark Sulcov, Battalion Chief William Chiappane and all the officers and firefighters of the Fort Lee Fire Department.

Have a safe year!