Trenton, NJ, Director Runs Fire Department Like a $30M Business

Kenneth Douglas’ first six months on the job as Trenton’s fire director were, in a word, bumpy.

He arrived in the late summer of 2021 and firefighters were leery of another outsider being named to the post. He’d served as a firefighter in Newark and director in Orange.

And one of his first changes seemed small but caused a large wave of anger. In early 2022, he introduced a new uniform patch that scrapped the iconic Iron Fireman design – which firefighters loved and said was unique - for an image of the Statehouse.

Firefighters pushed back hard, one started an online petition to halt the new patch and the two union presidents at the time said they’d rather be talking about repairing old firehouses, buying new gear and other issues critical to saving lives and property.

Nearly three years later, they’re not discussing it, they have it.

Douglas has infused the department with gear and money, and has garnered respect along the way.

Union officials do not regularly call the media to say how wonderful things are, but in Trenton, they did just that. Credit where credit is due, they say.

Last spring, Douglas secured $3.5 million in federal funding for two new fire engines and a ladder truck and has found funding or ways to budget for other critical pieces of equipment, like air tanks and the harnesses that carry them. (The new engines and ladder are ordered, but delayed by supply chain issues.)

This spring, working with the Department of Community Affairs, which oversees Trenton’s budget, he arranged for money to repair firehouses, especially engine houses 6 and 7, which have longtime, critical structural issues from the weight of their engines. (Many Trenton firehouses were built to shelter lighter equipment, or horses.)

Last week, the department swore in its largest class ever, 29 new firefighters, in a first-ever joint class with the new Ewing Fire Department, which graduated seven.

Overtime is down, and morale is up.

And the Iron Fireman stayed.

Kevin Soto, a 10-year veteran who is vice president of the rank-and-file union, said he’s served with multiple directors.

“Director Douglas is by far one of the best directors we’ve ever had. He has a special skill set and he just has a vision for the department that’s bigger than I’ve seen.”

Soto is the one who started the petition about the patch.

Dougals’ vision, he said, is to make the Trenton Fire Department “a beacon of public safety.”

What Trenton did not need, he and the fire unions said, was someone acting like a chief.

Douglas said running a fire department, to use an old firefighter phrase, is more than just, “putting the wet stuff on the red stuff.”

“If that’s the only thing that you think fire department is about, you’re highly mistaken,” he said. (Douglas, though, with python-like upper arms, looks like he’d be good at dragging a hose or swinging an axe.)

“I come into departments and to assess exactly where the needs are,” he said.

In Trenton, that was resources. And once he got familiar with the department, he said he went to work to find them.

Firefighters, Douglas said, need protective gear to do their jobs, and to stay safe, and once that is handled, he can immerse firefighters in other tasks when not at a fire scene, like toy drives, food drives, educating residents about smoke detectors, the junior fire academy and recruiting. The list goes on.

Obtaining safety gear for a fire department is different, Douglas says, as one cannot go to Walmart or Home Depot and just buy it off the shelf. It needs planning.

“So, I have to stress that to the administration, and it worked, and it helps and this mayor cares and he understands, and he’s doing exactly what he needs to do to assist me in providing the necessary things for this department to move forward,” Douglas said.

As for overtime, Douglas has pushed for and attained at times, escalating promotions so firefighters are not paid overtime while acting in ranks above them.

He smiles hearing how the department was leery of him, and says his start was not rocky, but “an unknown.”

Either way, the unions now praise his efforts.

“I mean, honestly there are no gripes right now, its’ kind of awkward,” rank-and-file union President Andres Perez said with a chuckle recently.

“I would say we have a great working relationship, and we have bumps in the road, but nine times out of 10, we have a happy medium.”

Capt. Kevin Beyrouty, vice president of the officer’s union, said from a labor standpoint, the relationship with Douglas is very good and the union has a solid seat at the table of what Douglas wants to do with the department.

The infusion of equipment is excellent, and he and Perez and Soto, credit Douglas’ relationship building with people in the city, state government and beyond with bringing in the gear, and his strategy to cut overtime.

“That’s a big key in all of this, his relationships, as there’s a lot of moving pieces with getting all this assistance,” Soto said.

Beyrouty said Douglas even found money to paint the fire headquarters’ large letters on the front of the Perry Street building. “And he had it done over a weekend. No one’s done anything like that here.”

On a more personal level, Soto said Douglas embraced and green-lit autism training for the department and the addition of autism symbols on Engine 10 at fire headquarters.

“We were one of the first departments to do that,” he said. “It’s important training to have, especially on EMS calls, as we can recognize the signs.” Soto’s son is on the autism spectrum.

More recently, Douglas said he’s also got funding to buy more standard fire vehicles and he’s currently working to bulk up the department’s role in city code inspections and fire investigations, roles that were more formidable in the past.

The department continues to recruit, with four billboards in the city, one in Spanish, Douglas said. And the class that graduated last week included two women.

It’s not all him, Douglas said. “I’ve been getting a lot of support all around.”

“We’re really trying to shape this department like a business, a $30 million business,” he said referencing the department’s annual budget.

“Things are moving forward,” Douglas said.

©2024 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit nj.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.