An insidious effect of repeated propaganda, known as the “firehose of falsehood” technique (ironic considering my topic), is both drowning out facts along with interest in finding truth, as people become overloaded by endless back-and-forth controversy. For months, we’ve experienced a deluge of false information about the Garwood Fire Department, spread mostly via Facebook. It’s impossible to address so much misinformation without monopolizing the entire newspaper, so I’ll focus on a specific false statement in a recent letter published in the Hawk.
The Borough Code was silent regarding certifications before the Council adopted Ordinance 23-28 on October 26, 2023. In the previous code, circa the mid-1980s, one had to serve as a firefighter for three years to be elected as a Lieutenant, and then hold each rank in succession to be elected Chief. There was also silence regarding entry level Firefighter 1 certification. This is easily verified by looking at the markup of the adopted Ordinance.
As the author of 23-28, I’ve spoken at council meetings (and to a Hawk reporter) regarding the legislative intent of adding certification requirements. We simply wanted to ensure Garwood’s fire officers met the state standard for their positions before the Council appoints them by Resolution. The state standard for officers is not “Fire Officer 1”; it is “Incident Management Level 1”. For Chiefs? “Incident Management Level 2”. While this might appear as distinction without difference, it is not according to the NJ Division of Fire Safety. DFS made the recommendations adopted by the council in Ordinance 24-11 to address this.
Unfortunately the above was twisted to be the centerpiece of a smear campaign aiming to shut down a dedicated professional volunteer fire department (shamefully including direct attacks on serving firefighters by name)! An unnecessary closing of our fire department would have resulted in massive taxpayer expense to obtain paid fire coverage, along with decreasing safety across Union County due to the reduction in available firefighters for mutual aid.
I’m unsure who is served by this ongoing vendetta against a volunteer fire department. Who benefits? It doesn’t appear to be the public.
Vincent Kearney Garwood Council President
