Fair Lawn Heavy Rescue Services

About

Rescue is a volunteer organization dedicated to serving the borough of Fair Lawn and surrounding communities.

Story

Welcome to the Fair Lawn Rescue Squad’s website. The squad’s mission statement says that we are “a volunteer organization created for the purpose of preserving life and property through the provision of emergency and non-emergency rescue service in the Borough of Fair Lawn.” The Rescue Squad is a division of the Fair Lawn Office of Emergency Management (OEM), which is a municipal office of the Borough of Fair Lawn. This website has been developed to educate you about the services that we provide, articles of both past and present events, and provide informative information about the Rescue Squad. The Rescue Squad operates out of one building that is owned and maintained by the Rescue Squad Association. Each year our fund drive committee distributes two mailings seeking donations. The donations are used to maintain our building, complete projects, support our youth squad, provide financial assistance to a graduating senior through our scholarship program, and to maintain the day to day operations of the rescue squad.

Mission

The Fair Lawn Rescue Squad is a volunteer organization, created for the purpose of preserving life and property This organization is responsible for providing emergency and non-emergency rescue services to the citizens, visitors, workers and businesses located within the political boundaries of the Borough of Fair Lawn, County of Bergen, State of New Jersey.
The Rescue Squad is available to aid other municipalities and government agencies upon request. The organization is primarily responsible for providing services such as vehicular rescue, hazardous materials emergency response, water rescue, confined space rescue, industrial and technical rescue. The organization also is available to assist the other emergency services of the Borough of Fair Lawn in a support role, including but not limited to the Police Department, Fire Department, and Ambulance Corps.
The Fair Lawn Rescue Squad is a division of the Fair Lawn Office of Emergency Management, which is a municipal office of the Borough of Fair Lawn. In 1985, the State of New Jersey adopted the term Emergency Management. This organization replaced the CD-DC and was hence known as the Office of Emergency Management (OEM). Col. Koenig continued to use the name CD-DC, until 1990, Tom Metzler became the new Director of OEM. At this point Fair Lawn officially adopted the name OEM.
The Squad found itself growing once more. In 1993, the Rescue Squad constructed a building on a vacant lot at the west end of Romaine Street behind the Fair Lawn High School. In the spring of 1994, the Squad officially moved into their new building. The building was expanded in 1998, to accommodate the continually growing Squad and to house a newly purchased Heavy Rescue truck.
Now operated by the Rescue Squad, the Hazardous Materials Unit (Haz-Mat) was formed to handle emergencies involving volatile or toxic substances. The agency provides Fair Lawn with an in-house service for which most other towns must rely on the Bergen County Haz-Mat Team. Through the dedication of volunteers who take the extensive and specialized training, the Borough of Fair Lawn was able to invest the considerable funds needed to buy the high-tech apparatus and gear the job requires. In 1997, the Haz-Mat Unit officially became part of the Rescue Squad and its specialized vehicle and gear are now housed at the Rescue Building.
The Rescue Squad conducts weekly practical drills at select sites throughout the Borough of Fair Lawn.