Fair Lawn Rescue is pleased to announce our upcoming fundraiser scheduled for Thursday May 23, 2013. Caputo's Catering at the Fair Lawn Athletic Club 14-19 Parmelee Ave, Fair Lawn, NJ has graciously offered us a 'Benefit Night' from 5-9 PM. A flyer MUST be presented at the time of purchase. A portion of sales less taxes and gratuity will be given to the Fair Lawn Rescue Association at the end of the benefit.

A printable flyer is attached for more information please call 201-794-5388 or email evank22@aol.com.

As Always, Thank You for Your Continued Support!

The acrid smell of smoke from Friday's fire still hung in the air Saturday evening outside 24-20 Broadway, an imposing mixed-use building that once housed a ShopRite and now contains a spa and adult medical day care center.

The smoky blaze, which firefighters fought for most of the afternoon and early evening Friday, caused extensive damage to the building's basement and first floor, Fire Chief Jeff Greco said.

"This was a stubborn fire," he said. "It was in the walls and in the floor and it was difficult to get at. That's why it took a long time to actually put it out."

The fire started in the basement ceiling and spread horizontally through the large voids between the basement ceiling and first floor that were left when the building was converted from a supermarket, Greco said.

About 60 people, including many elderly day care center guests, were evacuated at the sight of smoke, NorthJersey.com reported. None suffered injuries.

Because the flames didn't show themselves until two or three hours into the fire, firefighters were forced to cut holes in walls and the floor to look for pockets of fire to extinguish, Greco said.

The first-floor spa offices and the basement spa area, which contains saunas, a pool, some storage and a refrigeration unit, suffered the brunt of the damage, while the adult day care center portion escaped unscathed, he said.

Peter Bekkerman, who owns both the BRC Spa and Sauna Resort in the basement and the Broadway Adult Medical Day Care Center on the first floor, said he was hoping to reopen the facilities in a few months.

He owns another adult medical day care center in East Brunswick, where Greco said he thought some of Bekkerman's Fair Lawn patients may be transferred temporarily.

As of late Saturday afternoon, the Broadway complex was still without electricity, pending an inspection from the building department.

The fire, whose cause has yet to be determined, is not considered suspicious.

In addition to Fair Lawn's four companies, firefighters from Elmwood Park, Saddle Brook, Paramus, Wyckoff, Maywood, Glen Rock, Hawthorne, Rochelle Park, Hackensack, Ridgewood and Teaneck provided assistance at the scene.

Fair Lawn emergency service workers set quite the bar for toy collections this past holiday season.

In their first year participating in the U.S. Marine Corps' Toys for Tots program, the Fair Lawn Policemen's Benevolent Association, in concert with the Fair Lawn Rescue Squad and Fair Lawn Police Dispatchers collected more toys than any of the other 42 collection stations throughout the area, PBA president Michael O'Brien said.

O'Brien said he had no idea they had collected 3,041 toys until recently when the PBA received a tally of the items they collected and a plaque from the Saddle River Detachment No. 1211 Marine Corps League recognizing them for their contributions.

"I was truly inspired by my brothers and sister as we worked as a team with the dispatchers and rescue personnel to get this mission accomplished," O'Brien said. "Watching any child light up with joy is special, but when it's a child in need, our dedicated members were committed to seeing this through."

The toys, collected primarily through resident donations and PBA contributions, went to support a wide range of groups and causes including local children's hospitals, homeless shelters, religious institutions and the children of deployed military service members. Trucks carrying toys also made stops in Toms River and hard-hit towns in Bergen County for distribution to Hurricane Sandy victims. Other toys went to Fair Lawn families in need via Liz Twiggs of the Fair Lawn Human Services Department.

O'Brien offered special thanks to the operator of a Connecticut daycare center who gave $600 of the proceeds from a kids bake sale to the PBA's cause in the form of a Toys"R"Us gift certificate. The woman was in Fair Lawn to check on the well-being of her mother-in-law when she came in contact with Officer Anthony Lugo.

"They found, unfortunately, [her mother-in-law] was deceased," said Lugo, who was at the residence responding to the death call. "While waiting and contacting the [medical examiner's] office, I was just talking to her normal and just trying to take her mind off the situation."

In the course of their conversation, Lugo said the woman asked whether the department participated in Toys for Tots and, following a conversation with O'Brien, offered to make a sizable $600 donation.

When officers arrived at the Paramus Toys"R"Us to purchase an even $1000 worth of toys using the woman's gift card and another $400 the PBA had cobbled together, O'Brien said the store manager went out of his way to accommodate the officers.

"We went in there with $1000 and said 'This is what we have to spend,' and this guy turned it into eight carts, big carts worth of toys," O'Brien said. "We [drove] out of there with the black Expedition, literally the two of us were in the front and the toys were going up against the back of our heads, it was so packed we couldn't get any more in there. That was awesome."

While Fair Lawn may have amassed the largest number of toys for tots in the area, O'Brien emphasized that it takes nothing away from other groups that also participated in the program, no matter how many items they donated.

Organizations hoping to keep pace with Fair Lawn in the future, however, may have their work cut out for them. O'Brien said he's hoping to get an earlier start with collections next year and double the amount of toys they distribute.

"Giving these toys to these kids and just spending some time with them, connecting with them," he said. "There’s nothing better than that.”

Source: Fair Lawn Patch

A woman who lost control of her car on Fair Lawn Avenue Monday morning and struck a utility pole had to be extricated from her vehicle by emergency service volunteers, police said.

Fair Lawn resident Frances Fleischer, 74, was driving her 2007 Nissan Altima westbound on Fair Lawn Avenue near Hedman Place around 11:30 a.m. when she swerved into a public service utility pole, Sgt. Richard Schultz said. He said the front right side of the vehicle impacted the pole, which caused the car to rotate and flip over on its right side, trapping the driver and her small lap dog inside.

The rollover threw both the woman and her dog — neither of whom were restrained — to the passenger side of the vehicle, Schultz said. He said rescue squad workers used tools to remove the car's roof and extricate the woman and her dog.

Fleischer was taken out of the car on a board and transported to St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson, Schultz said. He said the extent of her injuries was unknown, but that they did not appear to be life-threatening. Animal control took the dog, which did not appear to suffer any injuries in the accident, Schultz said.

The utility pole was snapped in two from the car's impact, which resulted in a power disruption to several nearby homes, Schultz said. Public Service was on scene shortly after the accident to make repairs and restore service.

The Fair Lawn Ambulance Corps, Fair Lawn Rescue Squad, Fair Lawn Fire Department, Fair Lawn Police Department and paramedics from Valley Hospital all responded to the scene.

It's unclear what caused the woman to swerve and strike the pole, Schultz said.

The Fair Lawn Rescue Association is pleased to announce a fundraiser that has been coordinated with Fair Lawn residents and The Bourbon BBQ restaurant owners Mike and Helen Feygin. All of the details are located on the flyer inscluding dates, times, and additional information.

We thank them for supporting our organization and look forward to a successful fundraiser.



Please see flyer attached as a PDF file to participate!

A fire that started in the closet of a second floor Eldorado Village apartment on High Street Wednesday morning destroyed two units and forced the evacuation of the building, Fair Lawn Deputy Fire Chief Kirk Wolthouse said.

The apartment's two tenants, who were home when the blaze broke out, were unharmed, he said. One tenant was already outside when the fire department arrived. The other tenant -- who was still inside frantically gathering his belongings and medication when help arrived -- was escorted out by police and firefighters, Wolthouse said.

The H building's nine apartments were all evacuated while firefighters fought the blaze, which started shortly before 8 a.m. The fire burned from the second floor closet up to the closet of a vacant third floor unit directly above it, and also into the main dwelling of each unit, Wolthouse said.

He said the second and third floor apartments suffered "major structural damage," because firefighters were forced to pull down the second and third floor ceilings to fight the fire after it got into the floor joists.

The rest of the H Building's apartment units escaped with only smoke and/or water damage, and are habitable, Wolthouse said. The tenants who lived in the second floor apartment where the fire started will likely stay with their adult daughter until they can find permanent lodging, he said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but it is not considered suspicious, fire marshal Jay Bender said. Wolthouse would not speculate on what may have caused the fire, but said the closet where it started was not wired for electricity.

The Elmwood Park and Saddle Brook fire departments stood by to cover the rest of the borough while Fair Lawn firefighters battled Wednesday's blaze.

Three new police officers headed to the Bergen County Police Academy Friday to begin their training for careers on the Fair Lawn Police Department.

Christopher O'Shaughnessy, Nicholas Snyder, and John Rovetto were each sworn in by the mayor at a council meeting Tuesday night. Each will spend 6 months in the academy, and an additional three to four months in field training, before becoming fully active on the force.

All three men are graduates of Fair Lawn High School who were active in public service prior to their recruitment by the police department. O'Shaughnessy served six years in the United States Navy as Boatswains Mate 3rd class; Snyder has been a volunteer with the Fair Lawn Fire Department and Ambulance Corps; and Rovetto was previously employeed by the TSA.

Since 2010, Chief Erik Rose said, Fair Lawn has lagged far behind the federal recommendations for the ratio of police officers to population, as retirements and layoffs due to the economy have reduced the force by 10 officers to 54. The FBI recommends that a municipality of Fair Lawn's size have at least 65 police officers.

By the end of the year 11 officers, about 20 percent of the force, will be eligible for retirement. And while Rose says that it is unlikely that all 11 will leave, the borough decided to begin preparing for the departure of some, to avoid overtime costs or gaps in coverage.

If none retire, he says, the department may look to add to its traffic safety unit or resurrect its DARE program. The new officers are expected to be fully active in the department by October.

Bergen County hazmat and bomb squad crews converged on a Fair Lawn residence Monday night to ensure a suspected chemical suicide carried out in a car outside the home didn't pose a danger to neighborhood residents.

A man, who has yet to be identified, was found dead in the driver's seat of a blue Honda outside a 36th Street home around 4:30 p.m. Monday with a bucket of chemicals beside him, police said.

Due to the yellow tinge of the chemicals and the pungent rotten egg-like odor emanating from the vehicle, hazmat experts on scene suspected the man may have been overcome by highly poisonous hydrogen sulfide fumes, which can be produced by mixing together certain household items.

Police taped off the street while the county's hazmat team and bomb squad inspected the dwelling for signs of other potentially dangerous chemicals or incendiary devices left inside by the victim, Sgt. James Corcoran said.

Once the scene is deemed clear, which Corcoran said could take hours, the car will be towed to Fair Lawn's Department of Public Works facility where it can be vented safely and the victim inside can be identified.

The Fair Lawn fire department, heavy rescue squad and hazmat team also assisted the scene.

Fair Lawn firefighters from Company 2 were on the scene of a car fire in the driveway of a home on Fern Street on Dec. 31. Quick response by the firefighters kept the blaze from spreading to the garage. There were no injuries.

The Fair Lawn Police Department, dispatchers and rescue squad will once again team up with the United States Marine Corps Reserve this holiday season to collect toys for children of all ages as part of the Toys for Tots initiative.

"During these tough economic times, there are going to be even more children without holiday gifts," Fair Lawn Policemen's Benevolent Association president Michael O'Brien said in a statement. "PBA Local 67, along with our emergency personnel partners, are fully committed to Toys for Tots, and with the public's support we will make the holidays even brighter for as many children as we can."

New, unwrapped toys can be dropped off until Dec. 17 at any of seven locations across the borough, or on Dec. 11 and 13 at the Fair Lawn Rescue Squad building on Romaine Street from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

"We are forever grateful to the community-minded businesses that have allowed us to set up gift collection sites," O'Brien said. "By working together, we can make a difference in the lives of young children and help put a smile on their faces."

The 2013 slate of officers for the Fair Lawn Rescue Squad are as follows; congratulations and good luck to you all. - Chief Peter Yuskaitis - Captain Michael Van Ness - 1st LT. Steven Milnes - 2nd LT. Thomas Spear - Engineer Andrew Flax - President Andrew Flax - Vice President George Hondros - Secretary Steven Gotlib - Treasurer Joseph Mazur - Sgt at Arms William Schettino

Members of the Rescue Squad spent days assisting residents of Fair Lawn and surrounding communities with issues associated with Superstorm Sandy. Mostly providing generators for medical equipment dependent homes, checking trees down/into homes and responded to Ocean County on a task force to assist with their relief efforts. The squad also assisted a Borough resident collect items in need for victims down south. Hundreds of items were collected and delivered to the Ocean County Medical Hospital where they will be disbersed to the needed.

Fair Lawn Rescue, Police, EMS and Fire responded to Route 208 north near Maple Ave for an overturned auto. First arriving units advised the driver self extricated himself from the vehicle but needed EMS for minor injuries.

The Fair Lawn Rescue Squad was recognized for the outstanding continual service of its members Friday at the 84th Annual Governor's Occupational Safety and Health Awards program. Since 2007, the squad has worked 49,925 hours without any lost work time due to an on-the-job injury or illness. For their uninterrupted volunteerism, the squad received the “Governor’s Continued Excellence Award," Friday at the Northern Area Dinner in Totowa -- one of only two emergency services units honored among the night's 421 award recipients. The Governor's Occupational Safety and Health program, which since 1927 has played an essential in promoting a safer and healthier workplace, is open to all places of employment, both public and private, regardless of size, and is sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the New Jersey State Industrial Safety Committee and the New Jersey State Safety Council. -Source: FairLawnPatch.com

Earlier this month, Mercedes Benz donated a sedan and a wagon for training purposes. The drill was in collaboration with other nearby towns and gave volunteers an opportunity to practice extrication techniques on newer vehicles. As cars are being manufactured with new technologies (i.e hybrids and fuel cell vehicles) and advanced air bag systems, training exercises like these aid emergency workers in keeping up with emerging vehicle features and trends.