On December 1^st the Paramus Volunteer Rescue Squad officially merged with the Paramus Volunteer Fire Department.  This is another indication of an ongoing and widespread shortages of volunteers.  

The merger was announced by Fire Chief Kurt Harba and Rescue Squad Chief Peter Braun in a press release which read, “After many years of working together it was determined that the best way to move forward was to merge the two services.”  

The rescue squad will become the fifth company of the P.F.D.  It will be based at the same location, and its membership will remain the same.  All members of the rescue squad have completed Firefighter I training.  

A National Fire Protection Association report found that volunteerism in firefighting is in decline all over the country, with the number of volunteer firefighters falling from 897,750 in 1984 to about 676,900 in 2020.  This decline is attributed to several reasons, including time demands and increasing training requirements.  

On December 4^th, the Bogota Borough Council voted to merge the rescue squad with its fire department.  A press release stated that the merger would go into effect on January 1^st. 

In late November, Wallington officials announced that it will be partnering with Hackensack University Medical Center and changing its full-time volunteer ambulance service to a partial-service model while it works to strengthen its operations.  

“And while the number of volunteers has decreased, the number of calls volunteer companies are receiving has increased-companies are struggling to keep up with the demand for their services, and in emergency situations, response time is everything,” according to a statement by the New Jersey State League of Municipalities.