Significant Changes Recommended for Ridgefield Park, NJ

The Village of Ridgefield Park (NJ) engaged CGR to conduct a comprehensive review of its emergency medical services, fire department and rescue squad operations. This community of 13,000 in 1.5 square miles in the northern New Jersey has been served by dedicated volunteers for generations. After a thorough study of the operations, including an architectural review by our project partners LaBella, we documented a number of key issues and develop recommendations for the community to consider.

The options included constructing a modern, central fire station to replace several of six existing aging stations, improving the firefighter training process, reducing the fire apparatus fleet, developing a performance-based contract for emergency medical services with the current back up EMS provider instead of the currently inoperable volunteer ambulance corps, dissolving the independent rescue squad and completing the transition of heavy rescue responsibilities to the fire department. Several of the recommendations represent significant change for the community and may not be implemented immediately.
 
To learn more about any of these projects, contact Paul Bishop. 

June 28, 2023 CGR Briefs Edition