History

The summer sun had just set and an evening breeze began to cool Fords. It was the evening of September 19, 1911 when the men who would become the chartered members of the Fords Fire Company No.1 gathered at Mel Clum’s General Store. A factory was about to be built in the area and fresh in the minds of the civic spirited group was the Triangle Factory fire which had occurred just a few months earlier and claimed 145 lives in New York City.

On October 11^th it was announced that there was a property located at what was considered an excellent location for the firehouse. The property owners, Mr. and Mrs. A. Jensen, were asking $185.00 for a 26 x 100 foot tract on Corrielle Street. The Jensen’s were willing to donate $60.00 of the purchase price back to the Fords Fire Company. By August 1912 the new firehouse was dedicated and operational.

The Fire Company’s first piece of apparatus was a hand-drawn chemical wagon and within a year the Fire Company had acquired a horse-drawn hose cart from Perth Amboy Fire Department. The combination of a horse cart and hydrants permitted the new Fire Company to provide Fords with state of the art fire protection. By 1918 the Fire Company had purchased a new Seldon motor driven fire truck. The Seldon was replaced in the 1930’s by a Stutz fire truck.

During the period from 1912 to the end of World War II Fords was a quiet village dotted with farms. Following the war the pace of development quickened as the farms were sold, housing developments began to appear and new residents came to Fords via the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike. In 1948 the Fire Company replaced its Stutz pumper with an International pumper. By 1953 growth in Fords required the Fire Company to purchase a second pumper making the company a two engine firehouse. Also during this period the fire district began to employ paid firemen drawn from the volunteers. The career firefighters would dispatch and respond to fire calls.

In 1966 ground was broken for the present firehouse on King George Road. The firehouse, dedicated in 1967, contained a truck room with two bays, an alarm room, sleeping quarters, meeting rooms and offices. With the adoption of the N.J. Uniform Fire Code in 1986 the fire district created the Fords Fire Prevention Bureau. In early 1994, with the implementation of the statewide 9-1-1 system, the fire district hired civilian dispatchers to dispatch fire and EMS units. In September 1994 the fire district created the Fords Fire Rescue unit which responds to emergency medical calls in the 7^th Fire District.

In 2006 the firehouse underwent a renovation with an addition of a second floor to house additional offices, sleeping quarters, a ready room and training areas. In January 2010 to the present an ambulance from the Woodbridge Township Ambulance and Rescue Squad is stationed around the clock at the Fords Firehouse and responds to all EMS calls in the southern part of the Township.

In 2007 the Fire Company created the Explorer program. Today the Fords Fire Company is a three engine company.  The Fire Company currently has 5 fire commissioners, 40 volunteer firefighters, 6 career firefighters, 21 fire dispatchers and 9 fire explorers.

RULES & REGULATIONS