Paterson Fire Department

Paterson Fire Department is the career fire department serving the City of Paterson, New Jersey. It operates out of the Bill Pascrell Jr. City of Paterson Fire Headquarters at 300 McBride Avenue, a 27,000-square-foot facility that opened in 2015, and is led by Fire Chief Alex Alicea. The department's mandate is to prevent and combat fire throughout the city, and it maintains firehouses across Paterson's neighborhoods, including houses serving the Madison Avenue, Lakeview, Northside, Riverside, and Hill Crest areas in addition to headquarters.

The department's history stretches back to 1815, when firefighting in Paterson began as a volunteer effort; it transitioned through partially paid arrangements before becoming a fully paid, professional department by 1895 — a lineage the department documents on its dedicated Paterson Fire History site.

The department periodically opens recruitment windows for entry-level firefighter positions in coordination with the New Jersey Civil Service Commission's public safety hiring process, offering competitive pay and benefits, structured training, and long-term career and retirement stability to those who complete the process.

The Paterson Fire Department periodically opens recruitment windows for entry-level firefighter positions. The most recent window ran July 1 through August 31, 2026, in coordination with the New Jersey Civil Service Commission's public safety hiring process.