Officials from Eatontown, Tinton Falls and Oceanport continue to meet with the FortMonmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA) to iron out concerns about potential situations that could require emergency services response at Fort Monmouth.
Although Fort Monmouth officially closed on Sept. 15, officials in the fort’s host towns are concerned about the safety of emergency responders due to what they say is minimal information they have received.
William Mego, manager of the Eatontown Office of Emergency Management, told the Borough Council at the Sept 7 workshop meeting that questions were not resolved in previous meetings with FMERA, and that the authority has yet to provide the answers.
“We had a meeting in July. We asked them for building plans, [master keys],” Mego said. “We finally got a disk inAugust which had six buildings on it out of all the buildings on Fort Monmouth. We have asked FMERA not to wait until the last minute, and here we are with questions.”
He said his office still does not know what buildings it is responsible for, what buildings would be occupied or not occupied, as well as any chemicals that may be in the buildings.
However, Bruce Steadman, executive director of FMERA, said that the necessary people have received the information, including building layouts.
“Plans have been worked on collectively for a while,” Steadman said in an interview on Sept. 14, adding that a plan would be in place this month.
He said that officials in each town have enough information for an appropriate response in case of an emergency.
“Building drawings were copied and distributed to the towns. More drawings are being copied and distributed,” Steadman said. “These things take time.”
However, members of the council had their own concerns about the safety of emergency responders.
“Even if there are cleaning products, they need to know what is in those buildings. Every business in town has to let them know what they have in their building,” Councilman Dennis Connelly said. “They have nothing, and it puts them at risk.”
Councilwoman Jennifer Piazza agreed, mentioning the worst-case scenario.
“What if we put something on those chemicals and it causes a bigger explosion?” Piazza asked.
Michael Johnson, borough fire chief, asked if the mutual aid agreement with Fort Monmouth would still be active after the fort closed.
A standardized mutual aid agreement has been in place, which was signed annually by local towns and Fort Monmouth, he said.
“Right now, if Oceanport [emergency responders] are on Fort Monmouth property and they ask us to respond, we are obligated to respond,” Johnson said. “With Fort Monmouth being disbanded, our concern is do we have to respond?”
According to Steadman, the answer is yes.
“The mutual aid agreement will continue to be in effect,” Steadman said. “The towns will be reimbursed for any fire events.”
Johnson told the council he would not feel comfortable until there was written consent.
“I don’t want to send my personnel and my apparatus onto the fort without written consent from the mayor and council that we are being covered,” Johnson said.
According to Councilman Anthony Talerico Jr., council president, he has yet to see a document from FMERA confirming Steadman’s statement. Oceanport Mayor Michael Mahon also expressed concerns with emergency services on Fort Monmouth in an interview last week, particularly about Oceanport firefighters responding to a fire on the site.
“We’re uncomfortable with the prospect of having to respond to fires on Fort Monmouth,” he said. “We are definitely concerned by our lack of awareness of certain building floor plans.”
Mahon said that even though the borough has floor plans for the Fort Monmouth buildings, borough firefighters still aren’t very familiar with those buildings.
“We’re a little concerned; it is going to be a new challenge for our fire department,” he said. “We’re concerned overall about their safety because we may have plans, but you’re just not familiar with those buildings.
“You haven’t walked those halls, and the first time that you may enter a building may be when a situation is least safe,” he added. “We are going to have to become familiar with a lot of information, with a lot of different structures in very little time.”
Mahon also said that it is unlikely that a life-saving element would be involved in a fire on Fort Monmouth and that his biggest concern is the safety of the firefighters.
He said the borough has worked with FMERA over the past months to try to iron out any concerns borough officials might have.
“We’ve been working with FMERA staff to allay a lot of those concerns, and they’ve been very responsive,” he said. “We’ve gotten a lot of the information we’ve requested. There are a lot of questions that remain unanswered to the extent that FMERA is working with us.”
One request Mahon has for FMERA is that the floor plans come to the borough in digital form, something that he said FMERA said could be provided.
While Oceanport and Eatontown officials have expressed concerns about the site, Tinton Falls Business Administrator Gerald Turning Sr. said that all of the borough’s concerns have been alleviated.
“The Borough of Tinton Falls has no concerns with regard to emergency services at Fort Monmouth,” he said in an interview last week. “They’ve worked directly with our fire districts, which are separate governing bodies, and I’ve personally spoken to the chief of the Tinton Falls Fire Company and they have no concerns.”