User:Fmba68/Long Branch Fire Department

The Long Branch Fire Department (LBFD) is the public safety agency responsible for providing fire protection and related services in and for the City of Long Branch, NJ. It currently has 184 certified firefighters, making it one of the largest fire departments in Monmouth County. The Long Branch Fire Department is actually a division within the Long Branch Department of Public Safety and therefore, like its sister division, the Long Branch Police Department reports administratively to the civilian Director of Public Safety. Day to day and fireground operations are headed by the Chief of Department who is commonly referred to as the Fire Chief, and previously as the Chief Engineer. The Chief of Department is assisted by a First Assistant Fire Chief and a Second Assistant Fire Chief, respectively. The three chiefs are elected by the volunteers of the department from their ranks and must have served as a line officer for at least two years, one of which at the rank of Captain.

Organization
The Long Branch Fire Department is made up of the Uniformed Fire Division and the Volunteer Fire Division.

Long Branch Volunteer Fire Department
The Volunteer Fire Division the largest component of the LBFD, making up 90% of the organization and 87% of the firefighters. The division is comprised of nine volunteer fire companies, as follows:

Station 1 - Atlantic Engine, Hook & Ladder Co. No. 1 Station 2 - Branchport Hose Co. No. 3 Station 3 - Elberon Engine Co. No. 4 Station 4 - Independent Engine & Truck Co. No. 2 Station 5 - Neptune Hose Co. No. 1 Station 6 - Oceanic Engine Co. No. 1 Station 7 - Oliver Byron Engine Co. No. 5 Station 8 - Phil Daly Hose Co. No. 2 Station 9 - West End Engine Co. No. 2

The companies elect, from their own membership, a captain who is the commanding line officer for that company. Each company also elects at least two lieutenants to assist the captain, although larger companies also may elect a fourth line officer, although the titles are different in each company. The line officers are in charge of their companies' operations when in actual service. As such, when in service, the company line officers are also officers of the fire department with varying degrees of command authority on the fire ground. When in service, the company officers report directly to the three fire chiefs.

The companies also elect, from their own membership, executive officers who oversee the administrative operations of the fire companies. Since each fire company is a stand-alone independent organization, the executive officers have administrative control over their comapnies' operations except on the fireground when in actual service.

The volunteer fire division operates eight engines, one heavy rescue, one aerial ladder and one tower ladder.

By their charter, hose companies have an authorized strength of forty firefighters; engine companies, sixty; and truck companies 100. Therefore, at full authorized strength, the department may have 600 firefighters.

Other components of the volunteer division include the Long Branch Fire Police, the Emergency Services Unit, Training Division and various administrative components of the Office of the Chief--all of which are manned by members of one of the nine fire companies who perform these duties in addition to their firefighting responsibilities.

Uniformed Fire Division
The Uniformed Fire Division (UFD) is comprised of twenty four paid city employees who man two fire stations around the clock. The employees are assigned to one of four platoons working one 24 hour shift every five days and are responsible for responding to all calls for fire service in the city using two engines and one tower ladder.

The division reports administratively to a ranking firefighter holding the civil service title of Captain UFD. Each platoon is administered by a ranking firefighter holding the civil service title of Lieutenant UFD. The remaining nineteen firefighters hold the civil service title of Firefighter UFD. When in service, the division reports to the department operational line officers in general and to the three fire chiefs specifically.