“We're able to reach most locations within 2-3 minutes.” Firefighters in Ocean City are ready to respond to a fire there around the clock. “When you have a paid department, guys are in the station and on duty,” said Chief Chris Breunig with the, Full-time, Ocean City Fire Department, “they're able to get out much quicker and arrive on location to initiate an attack on a fire.”
Paid, Full-time firefighters versus volunteer firefighters is an issue that's come up since last week's fire in Seaside, where their firefighters, all volunteers, were on scene within six minutes of the call. Some wonder if a Full-time department could've meant a faster response, and possibly would've helped contain the fire to a smaller area. “I think that if they had an adequate staffing at that time of the day, absolutely,” said Breunig, “Full-time firefighters, yes, it's always better to have guys sitting in the station waiting to go to calls versus having to respond from their homes, their jobs.”
“It's my understanding that they had a pretty well developed fire on their arrival,” said Chief Richard Edward Dean of the Avalon Volunteer Fire Department, “in which case, I really don't think it would've made that much of a difference in that particular case.”
The chief of Avalon's volunteer department is no stranger to large, devastating fires. “That fire encompassed three buildings and was moving to take out two more and that was on my arrival within five minutes of the call,” said the chief looking at pictures of a massive fire from a decade ago. In 2003, nearly an entire condo complex was wiped out by a fast moving, early moving fire there. Does he feel having a paid, Full-time department would've made a difference? “No, because as I said earlier, we had a well developed fire,” said Chief Dean,
”we had a fire that was well along, ripping through the buildings. By the time we got there, we realized we had a good sized fire, and called for a assistance.”
While the Seaside fire has raised questions about the types of departments, no one can dispute the brave actions of those who helped battle the blaze. “The Seaside Park, Seaside Heights and the towns up north had a very difficult day,” said Breunig, “they were handcuffed out of the gate, because of the location of the fire, accessibility with their trucks and also the wind - Mother Nature just wreaked havoc on them.”
Officials in Seaside Heights say they will consider the possibility of a paid, Full-time department, and at the very least, will begin exploring the possibility of shared services between existing volunteer fire departments.