VIDEO: Firefighters Sworn In at Council Meeting

The Ridgewood Fire Department welcomed several new members to the department on Wednesday night with the swearing in of Jason Kane, Gregory R. Corcoran, Jordan J. Papietro-Zales, and Christopher Wolfstirn.

The hirings were pushed by Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), which pays for firefighters salaries for three years and totals $350,000. Menendez was unable to attend due to votes in Washington, but his senior aide Carolyn Gehl Fefferman read a statement from the senator that congratulated and thanked firefighters for their "selfless commitment."

With the grant, staffing levels are now back to where they were in 2010 before three retirements. Thirteen guys are now on per shift which puts levels again at accepted safety standards, although former fire chief James Bombace had some strong words for the length of time it took to promote firemen, over a year in one case.

Bombace said he knows for a fact that "significant overtime" has been incurred as a lack of promotions and he himself had his "head on a platter" in 2005 when former councilman Jacque Harlow called him out for the same thing, then $300,000 in overtime.

The council hadn't apparently hadn't "learned the lessons of 2005," Bombace said. The council did not address his statements.

Robert J. Kozielski, Jr. was promoted and sworn in as captain Wednesday night.