Not only is somebody going to respond, but they are going to respond quickly.
That’s how Deputy Chief of Quakertown Fire Company Brad Patkochis described the North Hunterdon Fire Alliance’s Squad 51 program, through which the communities of Quakertown (Franklin Township) as well as High Bridge, Lebanon, Clinton and Annandale are each serviced by the fire companies of all five towns.
Through the program, between four and six firefighters from one of the five departments volunteer from 6 p.m. on Saturday through to 6 a.m. on Sunday on a rotational basis. If there is an emergency that occurs within that timeframe in any one of the five municipalities, firefighters from that town are dispatched to the scene in addition to the Squad 51 volunteers housed at a department in one of the four other neighboring municipalities.