The Warren Township Fire Department consists of four all-volunteer fire companies and a fire police unit. Mount Bethel, Mt. Horeb, Community and Washington Valley fire companies provide fire protection services for the residents, guests and passersby of our town. On average we respond to over 425 calls each year.
The Fire Service started in Warren Township in 1911 as the Mount Bethel Volunteer Fire Company. In 1939 a group on men split from Mt. Bethel and formed the Washington Valley Volunteer Fire Company, the following year a group of men formed the Community Volunteer Fire Company. The final fire company to be formed was the Mount Horeb Volunteer Fire Company in 1948. Fires in the Township were fought and controlled by all four fire companies.
In 1963 it was decided by three of the four fire companies to merge and form the Warren Township Volunteer Fire Department those three were Mt. Bethel, Mt. Horeb and Community. Washington Valley remained independent until 2007 when they officially joined the Department.
The Warren Township Volunteer Fire Department is located in the heart of Central New Jersey and is divided into four fire company operational zones. Our statutory response area is made up of 19 square miles of primarily suburban residential with a lighter mix of commercial and industrial uses. Our department has mutual aid agreements with several surrounding fire departments. Overall, our primary protection area is covered by 70 active volunteer firefighters protecting 16,100 residents and their properties.
Our firefighters have the potential of being called out for residential, commercial, wild land and chemical fires. Interstate Highway 78, a stretch of critical infrastructure, runs directly through our primary response area for nine miles with three full interchanges. This dramatically increases the chance of service calls involving gasoline and chemical spills as well as motor vehicle crashes.