Lawnside’s fire trucks are inoperable, forcing the department to borrow rigs from neighboring towns as the fire chief and officials trade blame over delayed repairs and limited funding

By Matthew Enuco
nj.com

LAWNSIDE BOROUGH, N.J. — The borough of Lawnside doesn’t have any working fire trucks — a decision the local fire chief blames on the mayor and council and says could be dangerous.

All three of the town’s fire trucks are inoperable — one is just sitting there and two are out for repairs.

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In a letter sent to the borough’s mayor and council on Dec. 31, borough fire chief Mark Jay accused officials of chronically denying repairs to trucks due to a lack of funding — forcing one of the oldest historically Black all volunteer fire departments to borrow trucks from neighboring towns.

“This is the worst it’s been for a long time and we’re finally standing up for the department against the borough,” Jay told NJ Advance Media on Friday. “Public safety has never been a priority with the borough.”

Lawnside Mayor Mary Ann Wardlow said Wednesday that after she was notified that the last remaining truck wasn’t working “the issue was handled within 24 hours.”

When asked to clarify the timeline, Wardlow claimed she did not receive Jay’s Dec. 31 letter until Jan. 8 and approved the repair request the next day.

But Jay said the mayor should have been aware earlier — other borough officials knew about the issue and shot down a request for repairs right around Christmas, he said.

On Christmas Eve, while shuttling Santa Claus around town, the department’s last operational fire truck’s power steering busted and the department had to break the news on Facebook that St. Nick might not visit all the boys and girls in town.

It’s now being fixed at a price tag of $2,800, according to Jay. And another truck that has been out of service for three years is finally getting fixed. Meanwhile, the town is borrowing trucks from Haddon Heights and Barrington.

Despite the condition of Lawnside’s fire trucks, the department has avoided serious tragedies, according to Jay. He wants to keep it that way.

“There hasn’t been any fatal house fires in Lawnside since the 1980s,” Jay wrote in his letter. “We do not want the Borough of Lawnside to wait until a civilian or firefighter is killed to decide to do something and help the fire company.”

The price to repair fire trucks has risen by about 30% since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and many towns have struggled to maintain aging trucks with limited ability to raise taxes enough to pay for them.

New Jersey towns can fund fire departments in different ways, through fire districts with elected leaders that manage a separate tax collected by the municipalities, or through the borough’s municipal budget.

For those municipalities wealthy enough to purchase new fire trucks, prices range from about $750,000 to $2 million and take years to deliver a final product, experts have said.

But for most towns, New Jersey’s cap on local tax increases has placed a financial death grip on fire departments and forced them to work with less, hoping failed equipment doesn’t lead to a tragedy.

Camden, just five miles west of Lawnside, has faced similar issues with aging equipment that has failed during critical moments in rescues, an NJ Advance Media investigation found.

Other towns across New Jersey, including Millville, Newark, Trenton, Woodbridge and West Orange, even ones with full-time career firefighters and larger budgets, are trying to survive with aging fleets, the investigation found.

The National Fire Protection Association recommends departments consider placing trucks into reserve status after 15 years and consider retiring trucks after 25 years. The NFPA recommends this timeline based on a number of factors including quality of maintenance and intensity of use, and leaves the final decisions up to each department.

Lawnside’s all volunteer department has about 10-15 active members with three trucks, the oldest of which is 30 years old. The truck that broke down on Christmas is 21 years old and is considered past its useful life, Jay said.

It needed $5,000 in repairs in early 2025, which was funded through an emergency budget resolution, records show.

Within the town’s $6.8 million 2025 municipal budget, about $30,000 was earmarked for the fire department, according to a copy of the budget obtained by NJ Advance Media.

Jay says the majority of that is dedicated to fire hydrant repairs, leaving the department with few dollars for repairs, equipment and training.

Another fire truck has been sitting in front of the firehouse and municipal building since 2024 awaiting repairs to its engine block, Jay said.

The total to fix that truck was initially estimated at $7,000, but has since increased to about $43,000, according to Jay.

Lawnside purchased a new truck in 2018 that cost the borough $800,000, according to an ordinance approving a bond sale to purchase the truck.

But that new truck was involved in a fatal crash in 2022 that resulted in criminal charges against the volunteer firefighter who was driving and a wrongful death suit that’s still pending against the borough, records show.

The fire truck had to be removed from use during the legal proceedings.

It was taken in for repairs in early 2025, but it is still unclear when the truck will be returned and placed back in service, according to Jay.

Jay also said the department’s chief’s vehicle is old, damaged and in need of four new tires. The chief’s vehicle, sitting next to the beached fire engine in front of the fire house, has a gash in the driver’s side door and a broken tail light after Jay claims a Department of Public Works vehicle grazed the SUV.

And while they’re grateful the neighboring towns have loaned them equipment, the truck doesn’t have enough storage space to transport life-saving tools necessary to respond to all types of emergencies.

“The chief in Heights and Barrington immediately offered to help us out,” Jay said. “But borrowing a fire truck is not a permanent solution.”

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