THE WESTWOOD FIRE DEPARTMENT ANSWERS TWENTY-FOUR CALLS DURING DECEMBER 2024

Under the command of Fire Chief Brian Kronewitter, the Westwood Fire Department was called 24
times for emergency assistance during the month of December 2024. Chief Kronewitter reports that
none of the calls turned out to be a serious fire in Westwood.
The 24 emergency calls, and two work/maintenance sessions required over 270 hours of volunteer time.
In addition to these alarms and equipment maintenance the Westwood Fire Department participated in
several community events. For the past 60 years firefighters have brought Santa Claus to every street in
town. This year Santa came on five different nights the week of December 18. Also, the New Year’s Eve
celebration ball was dropped from the fire department tower ladder to kick off the News Years
celebration in Veteran’s Park.
The Westwood Fire Department was called out of town for five incidents to assist the Emerson Fire
Department on three occasions, the River Vale fire department once and on one incident at the scene of
a serious structure fire in Hillsdale.
Automatic fire alarms were received ten times in December. Although no fires existed at any of these
incidents, a full fire department response is required. Firefighters check the entire building to determine
if an actual fire exists. A variety of problems caused these automatic alarms: two times the alarms were
set off by cooking. A detector malfunctions caused one response. Workers in buildings set off alarms on
four incidents. And at three calls fire alarm pull stations were unintentionally activated.
Three times the fire department responded to investigate incidents involving natural gas. At these calls
fire crews respond and check the area or building with meters. At one of the calls fire crews found slight
gas readings. At two calls no readings were found. Westwood Fire Department standard procedures
dictate these incidents are turned over to Public Service Gas Company technicians for further
investigation.
Two Carbon Monoxide (CO) calls were received. Readers are reminded that CO is an odorless and
colorless gas caused by malfunctioning heating or cooking equipment. It can be lethal at high levels.
Again, each of these calls require a full fire department response. Fire crews check the entire building
with meters. No CO readings were found at these incidents. As with natural gas incidents these
occupancies are turned over to PSE&G gas technicians for further investigation
A small grass/brush fire broke out on the property of a borough residence which was quickly
extinguished.
Two calls turned out to be malfunctioning boilers in a borough residence. Fire crews ensured the
problems were confined to the equipment and turned the scene over to public service gas company
technicians.