A 100-year firefighting tradition ended with Hackensack fire chief's retirement

HACKENSACK — It was the end of an era on Friday when Chief Thomas Freeman walked out of the city Fire Department doors for the last time, capping a 40-year career.

His father Ronald Freeman Sr., also a fire chief, had served in the department from 1956 to 1994, and his grandfather Jack Freeman, who was a captain, worked there from 1936 to 1964.

“The Freeman family has given the city over 100 years of service combined over three generations,” said Freeman, 61. “My goal was to retire happy and healthy, and 40 years seemed like the right number.”

After joining the department in October 1983, Freeman, who was born in Hackensack, rose through the ranks becoming lieutenant in 1990, captain in 1997 and deputy chief in 2002. He was assigned acting fire chief in March 2008 and was promoted to chief a year later.

Over his four-decade career, Freeman said the fire service has changed dramatically.

“I’m so old that in the 1980s when I came on, we barely wore a self-contained breathing apparatus. You only had rubber boots and a coat on you,” he said.  "Firefighting equipment is so high tech now you’re almost fully encapsulated in fire retardant clothing. Obviously, the safety of firefighters and technology has come a real long way.”

Early in his career, in 1988, Freeman experienced the worst tragedy to strike the city's fire service when five firefighters lost their lives working to put out a fire at a Hackensack Ford dealership on River Street.

The Ford fire was one of the deadliest in the history of Bergen County and led to reform in firefighting across the country. In the aftermath of the fire, the state passed a law requiring placards to be put near entrances of buildings with bow-truss roofs and other states followed.

Since the fire, it has become commonplace for firefighters to carry a PASS, or Personal Alert Safety System, to allow them to blare distress signals if they get hurt, get lost or run out of fresh air in burning buildings.

“That was certainly a very terrible day for the city of Hackensack and the fire department,” said Freeman, who was off-duty that day but was called in to help. “I was down there very quickly with a bunch of the off-duty guys. You can imagine what went through people’s minds when we learned five firefighters had lost their lives.”

Since Freeman started his career, he has seen 150 firefighters retire, and a complete turnover of the department’s personnel.

“As chief for the last 15 years, I’ve hired half the firefighters here today,” he said.

His long career overlapped with his father’s, who is 91, and four of his uncles, who also worked for the city Fire Department.

“It was a very common thing in the early days of the fire service,” Freeman said. “This was very much a family business.”

Deputy Chief John Niland will be named the acting chief in Freeman’s absence, and all the department’s deputy chiefs will be taking a fire chief’s exam before a new chief is named, Freeman said.

Among his proudest accomplishments was attaining a Class 1 rating from the Insurance Service Office, a group that establishes fire insurance premiums based on a community’s level of fire protection, he said. That distinction is shared by only two departments in the state of New Jersey and 70 nationwide.

Hackensack also recently increased the department’s manpower to 106 firefighters, thanks to a federal grant.

"Adding 6% to the ranks is really unheard of in this day and age,” Freeman said “Figuring out how to increase manpower was really a blessing for us here. None of these accomplishments would’ve been possible without the staff I’ve had here.”

Freeman also spearheaded an in-house program to support all department members who volunteered at Ground Zero, ensuring their access to essential health screening and compensation resources. He designated a dedicated deputy chief for safety and training, oversaw the construction of a state-of-the-art emergency operations center at fire headquarters and championed mandating EMT certification for all firefighters hired since 2015.

“We are immensely grateful for Chief Freeman's unwavering dedication and steadfast leadership throughout his exemplary career with the Hackensack Fire Department,” Mayor John Labrosse said in a statement. “Under his guidance, our fire department achieved remarkable milestones and advancements, leaving an indelible mark on our community's safety. Chief Freeman's family legacy, deeply rooted in the fire service, speaks to a profound commitment to protecting and serving our city.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: A 100-year tradition ended with Hackensack fire chief's retirement