An old picture but many Ex Chiefs and Life Members Larry Thiel, John Byrne, Jeff Morris, Hector Malave, Doug Watt, and Mike McMahon can be seen above.

For today’s National Volunteer Apreciation Week post I’d like to recognize our Life Members. Life Members are the roots of our department. These individuals have maintained call percentages, attended meetings, and participated in fund drive for a minimum of 20 years. Nope, that’s not a typo, these guys have given it their all for 20 years! They have given our department an unthinkable amount of time and have built it to  what it is today. Though few Life Members are still active on the fire line, many of them are still active on our business side and religiously attend our monthly meetings to contribute their years of experience and knowledge to help the department grow. A very sincere thank you goes out to all of the below Life Members!

If you see a Volunteer Firefighter this week remember to thank them for their service, it’s the little things that mean the most! Or if you are interested in learning more about volunteering feel free to visit our “Volunteer” page at: http://hpvfdnj.com/volunteer/ or call Chief Jay Littman at 732-672-9879.

Continuing on with National Volunteer Appreciation Week today I’d like to give credit to our Volunteer Firefighters. Within the structure of the department, these members are our “black hats” or full fledged certified Firefighters. They selflessly give up their time dropping what ever they are doing day in and day out to answer the call to duty. In doing so they may miss family events, dates with significant others, ball games, and even sleep prior to work, but they keep coming out to provide our community with fire protection. They train together monthly in department drills and then get together in smaller groups brushing up on basic skills and learning to operate the apparatus.

Many people in Highland Park have always assumed that our Department is fully paid because when you call 911 for an emergency a fire engine always shows up and all on scene show professionalism and a firm understanding of what they are doing. The truth in the matter is that there is one part time Firefighter on duty at all times, all other Firefighters that you see out responding are volunteer. So far this year our top responding Firefighters are FF Mordy Gershen, Ex Chief Tony Szemereta, FF Dave Seiden, FF Andy Schwartz, and FF David Dopkin. Thank you to all of our Firefighters for your continued service to provide a safer community.

If you see a Volunteer Firefighter this week remember to thank them for their service, it’s the little things that mean the most! Or if you are interested in learning more about volunteering feel free to visit our “Volunteer” page at: http://hpvfdnj.com/volunteer/ or call Chief Jay Littman at 732-672-9879.