Fire Siren Blasts Final Alarm as Council Votes to Shut it Off

Residents from Kensington and Elm Avenues pleaded before the River Edge Mayor and Council on Monday night that their quality of life was suffering under the deafening tones of a fire siren. And while members of the claimed the siren's decibel level is within guidelines, the governing body sided with the residents and unanimously voted to turn the siren off. 

The latest arguments about the siren began back in April, but even before that residents were calling for its removal. The siren, one of three in the borough, is used to alert volunteer firefighters about a call in addition to the pager system.

"The County Health Department performed a decibel level test and at the four-second peak only measures 113.2 decibels," Fire Chief William Sanders told the governing body and audience. "Over the past two months, we've had two natural disasters and during that time the power failures lasted for days so members could not charge their pagers. The only means of notification of a call were the sirens."

But council members were not convinced that the siren is necessary.

"I grew up in this town on Continental Avenue and I've lived with the siren at and I wouldn't want it outside my house," Council President Paul Cordts said. "You come to us saying you're within code but the residents say it bothers them and are asking for something to be done. From what I saw during the storms, is that the firefighters were at so there was no need because you were all there."

Councilman Johnny Porco questioned why no informal tests have been done to determine if the siren at Company 1 or on Bloomfield Avenue could be heard in other area of town and what those decibel levels are registering at.

According to Kensington Avenue resident Tom Lawlor, he and members of the had worked together in 2004 to seek relief for residents from the siren while still maintaining the needs of emergency responders.

"What the fire siren committee found at that time was that the beeper system was inaccurate and that if the department could acquire new ones they would furlough the siren overnight," Lawlor said. "Once the entire department received new pagers, the department complied with furloughing the siren from 11pm to 7am except incase of a life threatening emergency."

The overnight furlough had remained in place since then but after the siren went off line for repairs in early spring, residents in the area became used to the peace and quiet without it.

"It seems like and long standing problem," Bob Fialko of Kensington Avenue said. "We haven't solved this and I don't know why. Either raise the siren or lower it and place more around town so that everyone can share in it."

"There has to be other towns in this country that have gone through this," Elm Avenue resident George Karestos said. "There has to be a solution and I think if you do some research on primary and back-up systems without a siren you may find some towns that are working successfully and find out how they did it and then implement that in River Edge."

Despite concerns by firefighters that members whose pagers are not functioning or live outside of the borough may not respond to calls, Porco called for the siren to be turned off while the borough continues to investigate the need for the sirens and if there are any alternate methods that could be implemented.

The decision was approved by a vote, 5-0 with Councilman Sandy Moscaritolo absent from the meeting.