Authorities are investigating whether seven members of Fairview's volunteer fire department used donations from the public to pay for a four-day jaunt to Cancun in January, officials said Wednesday.
Also in question is whether some of the firefighters solicited the donations by donning their uniforms and going door-to-door on Sept. 11, 2006, the fifth anniversary of the terror attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the borough's fire chief said.
At the center of the probe is Grandview Volunteer Fire Company 1, which is housed next to the municipal complex. Though not all 12 members of the firehouse traveled to the Mexican resort city, Deputy Police Chief Frank Del Vecchio said the investigation will involve everyone.
"At this point we are actively investigating these allegations to see if they are true," Del Vecchio said. "We are looking at what funds were actually utilized. ... We are investigating the company as a whole."
One firefighter who went on the trip confirmed that he did not pay for it.
"The company paid for me," said firefighter Jean Meeuwissen, who retired in December. "It was money we saved. ... They celebrated my 70th birthday and my last time in the fire department."
Meeuwissen said he did not know where the saved money came from.
Several former fire chiefs were among the firefighters who made the trip.
The firefighters are: Anthony Andretta, a former chief and current treasurer of the company; Capt. Wally Lindsley, a 17-year member; Lt. Patrick Buglione, a former chief and 29-year member; Meeuwissen, who retired after 35 years on the job; and Michael Juliano, Geremia DeMartino, and Nick Leto, all of whom joined the company as junior firefighters in 2002.
Most of the firefighters could not be reached Wednesday. Contacted by phone, Lindsley declined to comment.
"I really have nothing to say, whether it's true or false. I don't want to say anything more than what the police are saying,'' he said.
Mayor Vincent Bellucci, who asked police to begin the probe after his office received a tip, said he wants to wait until the investigation is complete before talking about any consequences or penalties the firefighters could face. He said he was surprised to hear the allegations.
"I just couldn't believe it," he said. "We don't condone anything like that in the borough, and we never would."
Del Vecchio said that the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office would be notified as the investigation continues.
Fire Chief David Masso called a special meeting Wednesday night for chiefs, captains and lieutenants of the 68-member fire department to discuss the investigation.
"Different members of that company have told different stories," he said. "We have heard different versions, and you just don't know what to believe."
Outside the meeting, several borough firefighters not in the Grandview company worried about whether the incident would hamper future fund-raising efforts.
Among the issues being raised is whether the firehouse used money collected on Sept. 11, 2006, for the trip, Masso said.
Masso said that on that day he saw some firefighters, clad in their dress uniforms, soliciting funds on Fairview Avenue.
He said he immediately called the firehouse and asked whether the donations were going to go to 9/11 victims.
He said he was upset when he was told that the fund raising was for the fire company.
"I think that is very distasteful," he said. "I can't tell them how to raise their money, or how to spend it, but I thought that was wrong."
"I'm not a lawyer, I don't know if it's legal or not legal, but is it morally wrong? Absolutely," Masso said.
"I wouldn't do it, my company wouldn't do it."
Del Vecchio declined to say whether the funds collected that day were being investigated. But he said police have determined that money the fire department receives from the borough for apparatus, uniforms and daily operations was not involved.
"We cannot comment on which funds were actually used," he said. "Municipal funds were not used, we can confirm that."
Diane Testa, the borough administrator, said fund-raising is done by each of the four fire companies on their own. How much money is raised and how it is spent is not reviewed by the borough, she said.
Photos of the trip appeared on Leto's myspace.com page Wednesday afternoon.
Several of the photos were captioned as having been taken in Cancun, and bear January 2007 timestamps.
By 8 p.m., Leto's page had been set to private.
Staff Writers Giovanna Fabiano and Brian Aberback contributed to this article. E-mail: [email protected].
Courtesy NorthJersey.com
