Historic Fire Department Abruptly Shut Down After Bitter Safety Battle

A New Jersey fire department that protected its community for more than a century has officially been shut down after years of debate over staffing, safety and the future of the historic firehouse.

The Woodbridge Township Council voted 8-1 on Aug. 12 to dissolve the 118-year-old Keasbey Fire Department and merge its district with the neighboring Fords Fire Company.

Mayor John McCormac said the decision was driven by public safety concerns, not money.

“We stressed that Keasbey residents were not currently safe with the situation that exists and that not having proper firefighter response to a structure fire was in fact an emergency,” McCormac said during the meeting.

“This issue was not about finances but about public safety.”

The department’s eight paid firefighters were allowed to keep their jobs and move into other positions within the township. Volunteer firefighters were also allowed to continue serving elsewhere.

McCormac said township officials had been raising concerns about Keasbey’s staffing and response capabilities since 2021.

He said the state was asked to study the department in 2025, and a report issued in 2026 recommended the merger.

According to McCormac, one of the biggest concerns was Keasbey’s ability to get enough firefighters to a structure fire within required response times.

He said the department sometimes could not provide the recommended number of firefighters needed to safely enter a burning building.

The mayor also argued that Keasbey had the highest fire district taxes in Woodbridge despite being the smallest district and handling the fewest emergency calls.

He said the merger could save the average homeowner about $1,000 per year in fire district taxes compared with what residents had been paying under Keasbey.

But members of the Keasbey Fire Department strongly disputed parts of the township’s case.

Fire officials argued that claims about the department’s call volume were misleading.

They said the department had responded to an average of about 16 calls per month during the previous year, higher than the 10 to 12 monthly calls cited in the state report.

The department also said it responded to 10 calls in the week leading up to the Aug. 12 vote.

Opposition to the shutdown spread through the community.

A petition fighting the merger collected 1,452 signatures.

“For more than 118 years, the Keasbey Fire Department has faithfully protected the residents, businesses, industries, and visitors of the Keasbey community,” the petition read.

“Since 1908, generations of firefighters have answered emergency calls, protected lives and property, and served with courage, dedication, and pride.”

The Keasbey Fire Department was originally known as Protection Fire Company No. 1.

It was created after a fire at the Ostrander Fire Brick Company exposed the fact that the area did not have an adequate local fire service.

The company officially formed on June 1, 1908, and went on to serve the small Keasbey community for more than a century.

“Rather than accept that loss, the people of Keasbey chose to act,” the petition said of the department’s creation.

The shutdown has also fueled accusations that the fight was about more than firefighter staffing.

Keasbey Fire Chief John Manna accused McCormac and the township council of conducting private negotiations and keeping the department in the dark until late in the process.

“We did not receive the due courtesy of an explanation by township officials of what you wanted to do, why you wanted to do it, what the process was going forward and the potential impact upon our operations,” Manna said, according to NJ.com.

McCormac has denied that the township improperly kept the department out of the process.

Fire district attorney Howard Pashman also raised a more explosive allegation.

He claimed the township wanted the department dissolved because a developer had purchased properties surrounding the firehouse and the department’s building was the final property standing in the way of a larger development plan.

“The only missing piece of that puzzle is the firehouse where Fire District Number 4 is located at 420 Smith Street,” Pashman said during the meeting.

“That’s the missing piece.”

Township officials have not established that development plans were the reason for the merger.

The Fords Fire District now owns the former Keasbey Firehouse.

McCormac said during an Aug. 18 council meeting that the Fords district will ultimately decide whether the building is sold.

The New Jersey Local Finance Board also reviewed the merger proposal and approved the ordinance in a unanimous 7-0 vote, according to McCormac.

For Keasbey residents and firefighters, however, the decision marks the end of an institution that had been part of the community since 1908.

After 118 years of answering fire calls, the Keasbey Fire Department is officially no more.