Mount Laurel Fire Department

The Mount Laurel Fire Department is a combination department consisting of approximately 50 active volunteer personnel and 43 career personnel. Career personnel work various shifts and are assigned to the three firehouses. Stations 361, 362 and 363 are all 24 hour firehouses, with volunteer staffing consisting of "a combination of volunteer in-hous... e duty crews, along with on-call home response". The combination of volunteer and career in-house crews allows for more efficient response times, while the home response provides for additional personnel in order to provide depth for emergency operations sustainability. The Mount Laurel Fire Department was actually created by Ordinance of Township Council in 1953. Although formally created, the Fire Department truly existed in name only and for some administrative responsibilities until the creation of the Fire District by Township Council in 1983. It was at that point that the Department took a singular shape. Prior to that, two separate volunteer Fire Companies provided fire protection. The Masonville Fire Company #1 was founded in 1913 and has been located since that time on a parcel of land that was donated by the Haines family at 105 Masonville-Centerton Rd. in the Masonville section of the township. This provided fire protection services in the eastern half of the Township. The Fellowship Fire Company #2 was founded in 1943 with a single pumper that was provided by the Masonville Fire Company. The Chief from Masonville, Art Mason, initially held the title of Chief for both Fire Companies during the initial development of the Fellowship Company. The first Fellowship Firehouse was originally located at #1 Oregon Avenue, and in 1953, a new three bay Firehouse was built diagonally across the street at 3824 Church Rd. on land that was donated by the Township's first Police Chief, Anthony Panarella. This provided fire protection services on the western half of the Township. In 1973, with a construction boom of residential property in the center core of the Township, ...Read More