Six New Firefighters are a New Beginning for Bloomfield

Six Bloomfield firefighters were sworn in at Monday night’s council meeting, marking a moment of personal achievement for them, as well as a historic moment for the township of Bloomfield

“It took ten years to make this happen,” said Mayor Raymond McCarthy.  “The fact that we were able to get away from the consent decree and hire Bloomfield firefighters is a great moment for us."

The so-called “consent decree” was a judicial ruling that controlled that the hiring of firefighters and police officers in Essex County (as well as four other New Jersey counties.)  McCarthy explained that it originated with the idea of allowing more minorities to be hired, but often resulted in firefighters and police officers being unable to work in their own hometowns.  

“[Firefighters and officers from other towns] would get free training and education here and then slide over to another town," said McCarthy. "Sometimes they would only be here six months or a year.”

Fire Chief Joseph McCarthy also expressed satisfaction at the hiring of the firefighters, whom he called “outstanding young men.”

“It’s a great night, it’s wonderful to see us refilling our ranks again,” he said.  “To have all these fresh young guys – we haven’t had this many new hires in years.”

McCarthy said the new hires brought the total number of firefighters in the township to 78. 

“They’re all veterans, too.  They’ve served their country.  A couple were in the army, a couple were marines.”

Accompanied by proud family members, each man stood on the dais, placed his right hand on the Bible, and swore to protect the people of Bloomfield.

The crowd – filling council chambers to capacity on the warm April evening-- cheered as each man was sworn in.  The cheering was especially loud for one firefighter in particular, Derek Hernandez.

“It took me ten years to do this,” grinned Hernendez after the ceremony.  “This town supported me when I was in Iraq.  When I came back I worked as an EMS, did community service, worked on the municipal youth council, did charity runs.  Stuff like that.”