New Providence Lions Club Helps Fund New Fire Truck Radio Equipment

A second New Providence fire truck was recently outfitted with new radio headset equipment, partly thanks to donations from the New Providence Lions Club.

Bill Hoefling, a member of the Lions Club Board of Directors, said this is an ongoing project to purchase headsets for older fire truck so each firefighter can hear radio transmissions while traveling to a call. So far, the club has donated $5,000 in total to the to purchase headset equipment for two trucks. Equipment for the first truck was purchased last year.

“This new equipment… allows each fireman to put on a set of ear phones in which he can hear the messages coming across the radio, [such as] if any units have already been there, what the fire chief is saying to them because he has gone in his own vehicle,” Hoefling explained. “All of those are unique instructions for whatever call they are going on.”

Hoefling said the fire department responds to a variety of different calls, from structural fires to entrapments. For each call, the department brings different equipment. On the way to the scene, firefighters are given specific instructions on what to do once they arrive. But without headsets, firefighters have a difficult time communicating with one another when time is of the essence.

“[On the way to a call, the fire chief or ranking officer] has to get their team ready so that when they get to the scene, they know what to do. In the past, that has been difficult because internally, the fire chief or the ranking officer who is sitting in the passenger seat up front is working the siren and looking for cross traffic and trying to get the vehicle there safely. The driver is doing the same thing,” Hoefling explained. “In the back of the truck, there could be three to five firemen. Somewhere along the route, they are saying, ‘okay, when we get there, here’s what I want firemen number 1 to do, here’s what I want firemen number 2 to do,’ and that used to be almost impossible because they are in two separate compartments and the siren is going, there’s all kinds of noise; they really can’t communicate with each other.”

Headset equipment per truck costs $8,700, said Fire Chief Ralph Parlapiano, and one truck was outfitted with this equipment last year with donations from the Lions Club and other donations given directly to the Fire Department. Additional donations from the Lions Club and funds from the Fire Department’s donation account were also used to purchase equipment for the second truck in the last few weeks.

Parlapiano said the equipment has been very beneficial because now “everybody can hear what’s going on because they all have head sets.”

The department is also ordering a new fire truck with the radio headset equipment, which they will receive next April or May, Parlapiano said. The truck, which will cost the borough $820,000, was

About The New Providence Lions Club

Hoefling, a past president and member of the club for 12 years, said the group consists of about 30 members who are locally minded.

The organization focuses on supporting public safety within the town, Hoefling said. In additon to the fire department, the club has donated thousands of dollars in equipment to the and .

“We just have that affinity to giving back to the community. All of our funds are raised through two separate events each year. We have our Golf Outing in June and we have the Lions Club 50/50 at Christmas time. Every dollar that we raise, we give back to the community or the community as in we give to the Lions Club at the state level, we give money to other service organizations who need our help,” Hoefling said. “All of that money comes from the Lions Club fundraising. There is nothing that we eat or drink or party with. All of that is given back to the community."

On average, Hoefling said the club donates $5,000 and $10,000 each year. Examples of donations include eye glasses for children who cannot afford them, large print books for the and three $1,000 scholarships for graduating high school students.

“One hundred percent of the money we collect, we give back,” Hoefling said. “Our partying side of Lions Club, which is fun, we pay for out of our own pockets.”

Hoefling said the club meets at the Chimney Rock Inn, a restaurant in Gillette, on the first and third Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. However, during the summer months, the club meets at a member’s house.

Interested in joining or learning more about the club? Visit www.nplions.org for more information.