2002 was a year of significant accomplishment for the officers and members of JTFD#1. Under the leadership of Chief Andrew Schmidt, the company achieved major strides in training, equipment upgrade and modernization and public relations.

In the area of firefighter safety, JTFD#1 upgraded all of its air packs with new Scott 4.5 packs and bottles, a major move forward from the old, heavy 2.2 system. Through a trade-in program, JTFD#1 was able to upgrade every Scott pack and now has more spare bottles on hand than ever before. Also in firefighter safety and communications, another major accomplishment was the purchase 15 new Motorola HT750 portable radios and speaker mics. Again working with a trade-in program, there are enough portables on each vehicle for every interior firefighter.  Chief Schmidt arranged for donation of some of the old radios to the forest fire service, giving them access to our frequencies.

JTFD#1 was the successful recipient of a $4500 FEMA Fire Act grant.  The hard work of the grant-writing group, including Asst. Chief Tom Walsh paid off, as JTFD#1 was one of the few Morris County Depts. to receive this federal money. The funds will go to the purchase of the remaining balance of Motorola portables and turnout gear upgrades.

Major equipment upgrades continued with the engineers working diligently to evaluate and upgrade all hose appliances, adapters and tools on each apparatus in the fleet. Examples were the purchase of 5-inch hose appliances, the addition of leader lines and hi-rise packs on the engines, and the addition of hydrant bags and hydrant tools on the supply hose on each engine. Other equipment upgraded includes 4 new Stihl chainsaws, new gas meters and K-tools.

The company purchased the Paratech vehicle stabilization system and did extensive training on this unique and versatile system, which was been put into practical use numerous times in just a few months.

In the area of communications, major advances were made in improving fireground and mutual aid communications. JTFD#1 formalized the use of a fireground channel at every incident and has made the transition to using a formal Incident Command structure at scenes.

The company’s accountability system was revived and improved in 2002. From a mostly defunct system year ago, each firefighter now hangs accountability tags at his seat before exiting the apparatus. Accountability collection and monitoring on the fireground was an integral part of training drills year-round as part of this improvement process.

Gear upgrades: Many of the members were excited at the opportunity to upgrade their helmets to the new JTFD#1 standard, the classic Cairns New Yorker helmet. Standardizing the gear and helmet colors to all black, officers will now be identified by the helmet shield, by color and rank name.  Probationary firefighters and juniors were issued orange “probationary” helmet shields to help identify them on the fireground. All the new turnout coats purchased now include the firefighter’s name on the bottom rear panel, which helps to identify members at incidents.

The officers took on the project of remapping the street directions for every street in town and updating the books on each vehicle. They included water draft sites and hydrant locations for every street in the Milton section, and Information Technology Coordinator Bill Hinchman computerized the entire directory which can now be updated at the click of a few buttons. Among other officer projects, pre-plans were drawn up with great detail for each school in the district and other large commercial structures. In 2003, training and implementation of these pre-plans will continue.

In 2002, the members continue to maintain our historic firehouse and beautiful grounds and monument. The apparatus fleet was maintained throughout the year, with major repairs completed on the tanker, the truck and resolution of warranty items on the Seagrave.

At the end of 2002, the new truck committee was finalizing its specs for the new engine to be purchased by the township in 2004. It will be an improvement on the 2000 Seagrave (727), taking into consideration many of the changes made by this year’s equipment upgrades.

In the area of public relations, 2002 saw the introduction of monthly statistics reports in the Aim Community Newspaper, and the rollout of our new, redesigned webpage. The Climb for Compassion, organized by JTFD#1 firefighter Harry Western, raised $10,000 for the FDNY widows and children’s Fund. Eight JTFD#1 members and other north Jersey firefighters successfully climbed Mt. Washington, NH in August to attain this goal. The Chili cookoff between the American Legion and the JTFD#1 helped kick off this fundraiser.

More than 20 JTFD#1 members came out to the Jefferson Police Department’s National Night Out in the Water’s Edge section in August, and JTFD#1 members took the lead in coordinating the township’s Mock Accident anti-drunk driving demonstration for Jefferson High School seniors.

And as always, the annual Santa Tour was a great success, once again thanks to our cooperation with Rutherford Fire Dept and the use of their trailer. Santa visited nearly every neighborhood in the district despite the frigid weather.

            Drilling was a big part of 2002’s accomplishments. 15 members attended a drill at the Morris County Fire Academy’s burn building this summer. A smoke drill in a local industrial building and multiple extrication drills were part of the training series organized by Captain Dave Van Veen.  Members drilled with new equipment, including the turbo-drafts and leader line/hi-rise packs in White Rock Lake in the summer and the ice rescue and ice drafting equipment in Cozy Lake in late winter. Members also completed cooperative drills with our sister company JTFD#2 in Lake Hopatcong, and Milton First Aid Squad.

JTFD#1 participated in the Township-wide house numbering project, offering reflective house numbers to township residents at cost+shipping.  All of the town’s emergency services sponsored the project and JTFD#1 made the order forms available on its website and members received and helped distribute orders.

In 2002, members took on the project of identifying the resting-places in town of all past members and will continue in 2003 the task of placing JTFD#1 grave markers in the local cemeteries for all past members of the Fire Company and auxiliary.

Perhaps our greatest achievement in 2002, however, was in honoring our first 50-year member, Joseph Mikowski. Joe joined the company in 1952 and has been an active member ever since, today serving as one of our primary driver/operators. Joe was honored with a dinner and roast in March at the Milton Road headquarters. More than 300 family, friends, past JTFD#1 members, public officials and township residents came out to recognize this milestone. Joe really is an inspiration our young firefighters and to anyone who can see what a difference he has made in a lifetime of volunteer public service.

The officers and members of JTFD#1 were proud to serve the residents of Jefferson in 2002 and look forward to another year of accomplishments in 2003. Please drop by the chief’s office at our Milton Rd. Headquarters on a Tuesday evening around 7:30 p.m. if there anything we can do to serve you better.

            Please visit www.jtfd1.org for complete information and updates about the volunteers of JTFD#1, the Milton Fire Company, serving the Milton section of Jefferson Twp., since 1936.

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