On March 15, 2019, FAST presented a summary of the officiial fire study released by Holmdel at the annual meeting of Citizens for Informed Land Use (CILU).  (Note: FAST is a separate independent group and is not related to CILU.)

 

Among the study’s key findings, the audience of about 50 people learned that there is a need: (1) to increase the number of firefighters, (2) for a centrally located firehouse in order to reduce response time that is above the recommended standard of 12 minutes, and (3) to replace and refurbish existing fire trucks as soon as possible. Of particular concern is that the total number of active volunteer firefighters has gone down from about 65 in recent years to 35 cited in the study. The presentation cited references (either direct quotes or page references) from the fire study for the key findings.

 

After the study’s findings, there was a discussion of the latest developments, including recent Township announcements, as well as a robust Q&A session that lasted more than an hour.

 

Through an OPRA request, FAST learned that Holmdel was given a 12-month notice in Feb. 2017 by the Insurance Services Office (“ISO”) that Holmdel’s community fire rating will be downgraded unless improvements were made (and, in fact, was downgraded). Some residents confirmed that their homeowner insurance premium was increased by as much as 25% due to a downgrade of Holmdel’s fire rating. Some noted that even when asked twice by a resident in the audience: “What did Holmdel do after receiving this notice from ISO?”, Deputy Mayor Michael Nikolis, who attended the presentation, did not appear to give a satisfactory answer.

​