WEST DEPTFORD TWP. -- Verga Fire Co. officials claim it was sloppy housekeeping rather than a failure to comply with state-mandated training that led to a report citing the department for inadequate training.
Stacks of folders containing training certificates for the company's 25 members indicates that the majority of Verga firefighters finished Firefighter I training but, in most cases, failed to certify it with the state prior to a nearly three-year investigation into the cause of veteran firefighter James Heenan's 2001 death.
Acting Chief Jeff Bilger said the mistake caused the New Jersey Division of Fire Safety to claim in its 25-page report released last month that the department had only six of 22 members certified as Firefighter I.
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