Iselin Chemical Hook & Ladder Volunteer Fire Company (Woodbridge Township Fire District 11). The Iselin Chemical Hook & Ladder Volunteer Fire Company was first started in the spring of 1924 when a group of approximately forty Iselin residents held an informal meeting to discuss their concern for the fire protection of their homes and families. On August 11, 1924, their plans became a reality as they organized and called themselves Iselin Fire Company No. 2. They were actually the first "fire fighting" organization in Iselin. At the same time, Fire Company No. 1 was organized, but had not obtained the equipment to be considered a "fire-fighting" company. It was because the firefighters had to wait for trains to pass before they could cross the tracks, delaying the firefighting, that two fire companies were formed, one on each side of the tracks. Since that time, the railroad tracks have been elevated.Most of Iselin was farm land, with dirt roads that made it difficult to move firefighting equipment to the location of fires. As years passed, the dirt roads became cobblestone, and as the population increased, macadam roads were installed, which made the response to fires faster and more efficient. In August of 1924, the first firehouse was built by the volunteers at the rear of the Iselin Hardware Store, located at 1396 Oak Tree Road. It was a one-car garage built and paid for by the members for $150.00. On September 15, 1924, a month after organizing, the name was changed to the Iselin Chemical Hook and Ladder Company and became incorporated on September 17, 1924. The forty original charter members were each assessed two dollars, and additional funds were collected from the community to pay for the incorporation. The first fire alerting system in Iselin was an air whistle, located at 1392 Oak Tree Road. In the event of a fire, the whistle was blown three times in rapid order and repeated until the volunteers answered the call. In 1925, on relocating the firehouse to Harding Ave., a split railroad rim was mounted in a vacant lot at the corner of Oak Tree Road and Middlesex Ave.. The rim was struck with a sledgehammer to alert the volunteers to a fire. In 1927, a siren was donated by Woodbridge District #1 and mounted on top of a tower at the Harding Ave. firehouse.In 1946, the siren was replaced by an air horn, which is still in use today. Also in 1946, alarm boxes were installed in the Fire District, making it easy to alert the volunteers by the public by pulling any one of the call boxes. When a box was pulled, it would activate the air horn and sound several blasts to indicate the location of the call box. In 1981, all the call boxes were removed due to the excessive number of false alarms transmitted by the boxes, and over 99 percent of the residents of the districts had telephones to call in a fire. Today e firefighters carry portable pagers that alert them when there is a fire call.The first piece of firefighting equipment that the Fire Company used when they started in 1924 was a hand-drawn, two-wheeled cart with two 50 50-gallon and acid tanks. A hose basket was mounted on top of the tanks to distribute the chemical. In 1925, a Model "T" Ford truck was purchased by the members of the Company. They built their own fire truck by taking the chemical tanks, hose rack, and hose from the hand cart and mounting them on the Model "T". Also,o they added pails, brooms, axes, and other firefighting equipment to complete this home-made fire truck. In early 192,8, a 5,00 gallon per minute Boyer rotary pumper was purchased, which was manufactured as a fire truck. This gave us two pieces of modern, up-to-date fighting equipment. These were utilized by the community until 1939. In 1939, the Model "T" Ford was retired when the Fire Company purchased a GMC Sealand utility truck. The Sealand had a 375 booster tank and a powea take-off pump. During World War II, a Barton front-mounted pump was installed on this truck, which increased the versatility of this pumper.In 1951, Boyer, after 23 years of active service, was retired, and a new TASCTASC-GMC0 gallogallons per minute with a power take-off booster pump was purchased. A TASC-International, 750-gallon-per-minute pumper was purchased in 1960. This engine was housed at the Substation on New Dover Road.In 1964, a T, ASC-GMC, 750-gallon-per-minute pumper and cab-overine was purchased to replace the 1939 GMC-GMC-Sealandis 1964 engine remained in service until 1992. A TASC-Custom, 1000 1000-gallon-per-minute with 1000a 1000-gallon tank, cab over the engine, jump seats, and, high-pressure fog pump was purchased in 1972. In 1981, a Mack CF pumper with 125a 1250-gallon-per-minute, 750a 750-gallon tank, cab-over engine, jump seats, and high-pressure pump was purchased. This was the most expensive pumper that Mack ever built. In 1992, a Pierce Lance pumper with a 1500-gallon-per-minute pump, a 1000-gallon water tank, a crew cab that could seat 8 firefighters, and, built-in t in foam system was purchased to replace the 1964 TASC-GMC engine. Also, the Department has a converted ambulance that is used as a tactical unit, a 1991 van for the Fire Prevention Bureau, and a 1993 Chevrolet Suburban that is used as a chief's c 'sr. In 1996, a Pierce Lance pumper with 150a 1500-gallon-per-minute, 100a 1000-gallon tank, crew cab that could seat 6 firefighters was purchased to replace the 1972 TASC engine.

The department operates out of 2 fire stations. Station 1 is located at 20 Auth Avenue and was built in 1956. The substation, station 2, is located at 491 New Dover Road and was built in 1953. 

The fleet consists of:

Chief 11-3-1, a 2012 Chevrolet Tahoe

Utility 11-3-2, a 2010 Ford F-350 4x4

Utility 11-3-1, a 2005 Crown Victoria

Ladder 11, a 2010 Pierce Arrow XT 6710 PUC 1500/500/75' rear-mount

Rescue 11, a 2017 Pierce Saber 6010 walk-around

Engine 11-1, a 2024 Pierce Enforcer PUC 1500/750

Engine 11-3, a 2015 Pierce Arrow XT 6710 PUC 1500/750