Pennington Borough Fire District No. 1 has been permitted temporary use of the former Borough First Aid Squad building.
Council members unanimously approved an amended use and occupancy agreement with the fire district on March 3, which now authorizes the fire district’s temporary use of the first aid building for a year from March 10 to March 9, 2026.
“I want to say thank you to everyone on the screen now,” said Brian Hofacker, chairman for the Borough Board of Fire Commissioners. “It has been a long time in the making to bring this use and occupancy agreement to fruition.
“The agreement helps us preserve one of the last all volunteer fire companies in Mercer County by allowing us to retain our members who have moved to neighboring communities, while also allowing us to recruit additional volunteers from those communities as well.”
Hofacker explained that the building will serve as a bunk room for their nighttime duty crews “…which will in turn reduce response times, increase morale and comradery, and help reduce volunteer burnout and fatigue by getting everybody out of bed in the middle of the night.”
According to the resolution, the original agreement was not executed by the fire district due to objections to the insurance clause. The borough and fire district were able to come to a comprise with the amended agreement that would also extend the fire district’s use term of the first aid building from six months to 12 months.
The former first aid building is located at 110 Broemel Place in Pennington.
Pennington First Aid Squad (PFAS) officially closed its operations after close to 70 years of service to the community in March 2023.
They had stopped responding to emergency calls in 2022 due to a lack of volunteers and the decline of volunteer EMTs and attrition was accelerated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
When PFAS vacated the building, the building was then turned over to Pennington Borough.
Brush Fire
Hofacker said this has been the busiest year yet in Pennington Fire Company history “with a total of 642 calls for calendar year 2024, which is a 30% increase in calendar year 2023.” And more recently, just this weekend, the historic Poor Farm brush fire on Pennington Mountain, he added.
“We are extremely proud of our volunteer firefighters, fire police, ladies auxiliary, and grateful for their selfless dedication and service,” he said. “We are thankful for the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, all our mutual aid partners that came as far away as Point Pleasant, Pennsylvania to Red Bank, and beyond to work together to protect the citizenry of Hopewell Valley.”
Hoffacker said they are fortunate there was no significant loss to real property and no injuries sustained by any of the firefighters, however, they will need to make mechanical repairs.
“I’d be remised if I did not thank our incredibly generous business community for their offers of donations of food to feed the firefighters and our residents who kept the safety of our firefighters at the forefront,” he said.
“Many have asked how they can help – one, buy flowers from the ladies auxiliary, they really take care of the firemen – and two, quite simply, volunteer. We have many positions available not just firefighting and are always looking for help.”
Council President Nadine Stern said “on behalf of all of us we want to thank you for all of your amazing effort.”
Pennington Fire Company was one of many fire companies to battle the wildfire in the area of Poor Farm Road in Hopewell Township on March 2.
The New Jersey Forest Fire Service announced on March 4 in a final update that the wildfire spanning 293-acres had been 100% contained.
They said early on in the firefight 34 structures were threatened. However, no structures were evacuated.
“Forest Fire Service crews will remain on scene for the next several days to continue to improve containment lines and address areas of concern until significant precipitation occurs to ensure public safety,” they added.
“Smoke is expected to remain present until significant rain falls over the fire area.”
