Clifton Fire Department

The Clifton Fire Department's roots trace back to 1897, when a group of 26 residents met at School Number Three on Clifton Avenue to organize the city's first volunteer fire company. Over the following two decades, a patchwork of neighborhood volunteer companies sprang up across the growing city — including the Albion Place, Botany, West Clifton, Clifton No. 3, Lakeview One, Lakeview Six, and Athenia companies — each running hand-drawn hose carts and ladder trucks out of small local firehouses before most were eventually consolidated or disbanded.

The modern, paid Clifton Fire Department was established on July 16, 1918, when the Mayor and Council created a single paid fire company under founding Chief Adam A. Ritter. Growth continued through the 20th century: by 1937 the department had 75 firefighters working from six stations, and by 1967 it staffed eight companies with 117 firefighters.

Today, operating as the Clifton Fire/Emergency Medical Services Department, the department runs seven companies out of six stations with roughly 140 firefighters and six civilian employees. Every firefighter is a certified EMT, and the department combines fire suppression, EMS transport, hazardous materials response, fire prevention and code enforcement, and emergency management for the City of Clifton.

The Clifton Fire Department does not take direct firefighter applications through its own website. Per the Department's own FAQ, firefighter hiring in Clifton runs through the New Jersey Civil Service Commission: candidates apply for and pass a Civil Service entrance examination in the public safety/fire series, and the Department hires from the resulting eligible list as openings occur. Current vacancy announcements and exam requirements are posted on the Civil Service Commission's own jobs site, which the Fire Department links to directly from its page.