Hackensack Fire Department

Hackensack Fire Department traces its roots to a citizens' meeting in 1864 and was formally organized in 1871, when the New Jersey State Legislature empowered the Hackensack Improvement Commission to create a fire department. Several volunteer companies -- Bergen Hook & Ladder, Relief Hook & Ladder, Protection Engine, Liberty Hose, Alert Hose, Hudson Hose, and Union Hose -- protected the growing city for more than four decades before the department transitioned to a full-time, paid force in 1914 under Chief William Ziegler, the last volunteer chief engineer.

Today HFD is organized into Fire Suppression, Special Operations, a Marine Division, a Rescue Company, and a Fire Prevention Bureau, reflecting how the job has expanded well beyond fighting fires. Members train 4 to 8 hours a day and cross-train with the IAFF, the Bergen County Fire Academy, and the NJ Urban Area Security Initiative's USAR Task Force One, and the department has been recognized with a Homeland Security grant as one of ten municipalities in northern New Jersey selected for that training and equipment.

The department's Special Operations teams respond to hazardous materials incidents, structural collapse, trench and confined-space rescue, and high-angle rope rescue, while its Marine Division runs three boats for river rescue and the street flooding common to parts of the city. In 2013 ISO upgraded Hackensack to a Class 1 department -- a rating held by only 61 of the more than 47,000 U.S. fire departments surveyed, and by just Hackensack and Hoboken in New Jersey.

Firefighters in Hackensack are hired through the New Jersey Civil Service Commission's public safety examination process rather than a department-run application. Applicants must be Hackensack residents under age 35 and must pass the Civil Service exam administered by the NJ Department of Personnel; entry-level Fire Fighter tests are announced roughly every two years.