Edgewater's volunteer fire force is a big insult to residents

Fire consuming the 408-unit Avalon apartments on Wednesday, leaving more than 1,000 Edgewater residents homeless. The Cliffview Pilot.com photo was taken by Carmen Fuentes. Are residents ill-served by volunteer firefighters?

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Residents in the booming Gold Coast town of Edgewater deserve better than a volunteer fire force that has failed to extinguish at least three spectacular apartment fires in the past 20 years.

More than 1,000 borough residents were displaced by Wednesday's fire, which was far more serious than what The Record conveys on Page 1 today.

Despite all the residential construction along Edgewater's Hudson River waterfront in recent years, the borough continues to rely on a Volunteer Fire Department instead of employing a professional force.

Are borough officials economizing at the expense of residents and other property tax payers?

First Avalon

The Avalon apartment complex gutted on Wednesday literally rose from the ashes of the original.

The complex was under construction in August 2000, when a fast-moving fire leveled two unfinished apartment buildings, nine nearby homes and 12 cars, according to NJ.com.

So-called lightweight wood construction was cited as one reason the fire moved so quickly, destroying the buildings in a half hour, but the same method was used to build the apartments that burned down on Wednesday.

Third fire

Another Edgewater apartment building closer to the Hudson was destroyed by fire in the 1980s, when volunteer firefighters responded, then left, not realizing flames were racing unimpeded through the space under the roof called the cockloft.

According to The Record, Edgewater's volunteer force on Wednesday was assisted by 11 other departments and five NYFD fireboats, but the inferno raged out of control.

"The fire spread to the north end of the complex, unchallenged in its advance, until firefighters from Hillsdale arrived at 8:15 p.m. and started pouring water on that section" (A-6).

Today's Page 1 photo of the Edgewater fire looks like a glamour shot of a firefighter; to see photos that encompass the breadth of the damage, check out Cliffview Pilot.com:

River Road reopens


Slippery slope

In his column on Tuesday, Staff Writer John Cichowski, aka Road Warrior, tried to advise readers on how to drive in icy conditions after Sunday morning's chain-reaction crashes.

Cichowski ignored discussing why anti-lock brakes and vehicle skid controls, which are found on most cars, didn't prevent the crashes or whether a single, out-of-control vehicle or a speeding driver caused the pile-ups.

He did advise drivers to stay two to three car lengths behind the car in front at 20 mph to 30 mph, but those are the safe distances on absolutely dry roads.

According to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

"Traffic safety experts generally recommend at least 6 seconds of travel time between you and the car in front of you on snowy or icy roads.

"That would require around 180 feet at 20 mph and 280 feet at 30 mph.

"Road Warrior also quoted insignificant safety advice from an 'expert on icy conditions,' who slipped and broke his wrist, and a clueless driver, who crashed his car on an icy road."

See: Road Warrior's slippery slope for drivers

Hackensack's school board appears to be incompetent

The Avalon Hackensack at Riverside luxury apartments, shown in February, potentially will add students to already crowded classrooms in Hackensack. Two-bedroom apartments are renting from $2,355 a month, and three-bedroom units start at $3,035 a month. Parking is extra: $100 a month for the first vehicle, $50 a month for the second. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Hackensack schools are experiencing an enrollment boomlet, and officials are scrambling to lease space in a Catholic school that is closing, The Record reports today.

The story, on the Local front, makes no reference to a Hackensack Avenue luxury apartment complex with two- and three-bedroom apartments that potentially will add more children to the overburdened schools.

Finger pointing

Joseph Abate, the interim schools superintendent, blames the lack of long-range planning, and school board members blame "turnover in administration for the lack of a current plan."

So, what has eight-term school trustee Francis W. Albolino -- a political ally of the Zisa family -- and other longtime members of the board been doing?

They've been spending more money per pupil than Ridgewood, and getting little academic excellence in return.

Wrong story for A-1

Not only do the editors do their best to make today's major Page 1 story hard to follow, but readers who stick with it to the bitter end must wonder why it's on the front page in the first place.

"Wrong number goes

right for ailing woman"

The reporter does a good job with this much-ado-about-nothing occurrence, once you overlook the silly lead paragraph:

"Next time you dial a wrong number, think about this."

Bluenotes

The A-1 obituary of jazz pianist Mulgrew Miller is yet another attempt to avoid the most compelling question about his death at age 57:

Why are so many other African-American men dying in their 50s?

All news is local

On Friday, The Record did what a local newspaper can do best.

A front-page story revealed that James Comey -- President Obama's pick to be FBI director -- was himself a crime victim more than 35 years ago in Allendale.

Sadly, that kind of local perspective is missing from the national and international news stories Editor Marty Gottlieb likes to run on Page 1, as if The Record is a trans-Hudson version of The New York Times. 

Friday's A-1 also was notable for the absence of another Rutgers column by sports writer Tara Sullivan, the paper's own vagina monologue.

Seeing stars

Friday's restaurant review gives a good-to-excellent rating to Raymond's in Ridgewood, even though the only "flawless" dish was French toast (BL-18).

And the restaurant misses a heart-healthy rating by a country mile -- cooking leaves of Brussels sprouts in duck fat, and adding butter, cream and mascarpone to shrimp and grits.

Thai mystery

In the May 2013 issue of (201) magazine, Editorial Assistant Ryan Greene sounds knowledgeable in discussing the food he sampled at Pimaan Thai Restaurant in Emerson.

But then, his review says "the papaya salad" has "no actual papaya, for whatever reason."

I called the restaurant to confirm it serves "green papaya" salad, a staple of Thai cuisine.

Of course, it contains papaya, but it's just not the sweet, ripe fruit Greene or the (201) editors might be familiar with.

If that's not embarrassing enough, who wrote the amateurish headline?

"Thai Something New"