Letter: Support Fire District 1 Incumbent Saturday, Pass Budget

I am writing to remind Toms River Twp. Fire District #1 Voters of our annual Fire Commissioners election, to be held this Saturday, .  Fire consists of the Toms River area, covering all of downtown, Rt. 37 west, and north to Bay Ave., East Dover section, and Ocean Beach on the Barrier Island. There are two candidates running for one available seat. 

We, the members of the East Dover Volunteer Fire Co #4, are asking our friends to assist us in re-electing Fire Commissioner Douglas Foley.  Doug has served as Fire Commissioner for the past six years. Throughout his time on the board, I can personally say Commissioner Foley has ALWAYS placed the best interest of our Volunteer Fire Fighters first, alongside of maintaining a balanced budget for our District #1 Citizens.

Commissioner Foley is a highly trained individual who has the education and experience in Fire Prevention, Protection, Suppression, and Investigations, this well rounded experience should not be overlooked when we go to the Polls on Saturday. 

Commissioner Foley has been a Volunteer Fire Fighter in Toms River Twp. for the past 35 years, in both the Silverton Fire Co. and presently in the East Dover Fire Co. located on Fischer Blvd.  I personally have been a Fire Fighter along side of Doug for 33 of his 35 years of service.   Previous to that, Doug and I also served together as career Fire Fighters at the Naval Air Engineering Center Lakehurst for many years.

As an East Dover Fire Co. member, Doug has served in every firematic line officer position including: Lieutenant, Captain, Assistant Chief, and Fire Chief, managing over fifty firefighters, and firematic line officers. While serving as a line officer he has commanded hundreds of calls from brush, trash, vehicles, and residential and commercial structure fires to hazardous conditions during hurricanes, and snow storms.  

After serving as Chief, Doug continued to serve the company in the executive offices, holding the position of Vice President for eight years.  And, to this day, he still gets out of bed, interrupts his family plans to respond to fires and incidents to assist the citizens of Toms River Twp, as all of our Volunteers do.

In addition to his volunteer experience, Commissioner Foley is well known throughout the state of New Jersey for his extensive knowledge in Fire Codes and Standards, acquired during his 20-years employed by the New Jersey Division of Fire Safety.   

I urge all of our residents of Fire District #1 to come out and help us re-elect Fire Commissioner Doug Foley as well as to VOTE YES, for our annual budget, on average .25 cents a day is not a bad price to have fire service protection 24/7.

Help US to Help YOU.

John H. Lightbody, CFEI

Ex-Chief, East Dover Vol. Fire Co.