New Dept. of Pub. Safety Svcs.

Seeking a higher level and greater standard of training for both internal and external departments of emergency services throughout Burlington County, the Freeholders today announced the formation of the Department of Public Safety Services.

“The formation of the Department of Public Safety Services puts a clear focus and emphasis on our commitment to higher standards of training for all our first responders,’’ Freeholder James K. Wujcik said.

“This will improve communication and coordination between the internal and external departments that provide various public safety services to our residents,’’ he continued. “Since September 11th, reliance on public safety and emergency response has increased greatly, and we recognize that.’’

Today’s action simply restructures several different offices or divisions and puts them under the umbrella of the new department, which will be headed by Public Safety Director Joseph Saiia. This restructuring will require no new personnel.

There will be four divisions of the Department of Public Safety Services.

Division of Communications will continue to handle 9-1-1 calls for all but one municipality in the county, provide police dispatch for 25 law enforcement agencies, and fire and emergency medical dispatch for all 40 municipalities; its functions will continue to be coordinated by Jeff Johnson.

Division of Fire Investigation and Inspections will be responsible for the enforcement of the State Fire Code in the county facilities and the investigation of fires in the county. Also it will coordinate the juvenile fire setter intervention program and conduct fire safety education. Fire Marshal Robert R. Rose will oversee this division.

Division of Emergency Management Operations will be supervised by Emergency Management Coordinator Kevin Tuno and continue to provide response to natural disasters and other emergencies, including hazardous substance spills.

Division of Emergency Services Training will be supervised by Assistant Fire Marshall David Gsell and will administer emergency response for firefighters, police and emergency medical technicians, conduct fire and life safety education programs and offer various levels of fee-based emergency response training for local businesses.

Additional services to be provided by the department includes the county firing range for law enforcement training, the forensic laboratory, network support and technical services.

The restructuring will become effective on September 2nd and Wujcik said the county’s new Emergency Services Training Center will give the county the opportunity to greatly improve its internal and external training for emergency personnel.

Ground was broken on June 20th for the county’s new $5,891,000 Emergency Services Training Center in Westampton, a 35,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility that will provide training for more than 4,000 volunteers from around the county.

The new facility will be located adjacent to the current fire training academy on Academy Drive, off Woodlane Road behind the County Library’s Main Branch and will include 5 classrooms with a capacity of 48 students each, a 150-seat auditorium, administrative offices, a library/research room, an instructional prep room, a practical area (2-bay garage with a maze for SCBA training), storage and equipment areas and an EMS decontamination room. In addition, the building will be completely networked with Internet capability and it will be the first county building with geothermal heating system.

The new facility is expected to be completed by January 2004, replacing the existing 3,000 square-foot modular “trailers’’ now being used for training.

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Author: Press Release-James K. Wujcik