Over the years, employees working the graveyard shift at Hudson Manor Healthcare, a nursing center on County Avenue, have become very familiar with members of the Secaucus Volunteer Fire Department, usually after an alarm has gone off. And time and again, according to the Hudson Manor staff, there’s one man who answers the call and stands out: Department Chief George Schoenrock.
Recently the Hudson Manor staff held a special event to recognize his decades of service.
“I’ve been here at 1 a.m., 2 a.m. when the fire alarms go off or we’re having some type of problem in the facility,” said Hudson Manor Administrator Robert Smolin. “One day I said to Chief Schoenrock, ‘How long you been doing this?’ And he said 40 years. To me, he’s like an American hero. To donate that amount of his time to his community, and to our residents, some of whom can’t take care of themselves or have behavioral or medical problems, really impressed me.”
Chief Schoenrock, now 72, was appointed to the Secaucus Volunteer fire Department back in 1962 when the department grew from 85 members to 100.
“At the time, the town was expanding quite a bit and we had more development coming here, so that’s why the town had to add more people to the department,” Schoenrock said last week as he reflected on his 47 years of service.
‘Meadows to concrete’
Schoenrock noted, “That Harmon Meadow area was a garbage dump and the area between the Hartz Mountain complex and Laurel Hill was nothing but meadows and fields. When I was a kid, my brother and I used to go down there to hunt rabbits and pheasants.”
By the time he was in his mid-20s a number of warehouses had been built in the South End of town.
Schoenrock used to hunt rabbits in pheasants in town as a boy.
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Schoenrock pointed out that warehouse fires came with their own challenges. Warehouses, he said, often store large amounts of flammable materials, and even so-called “clean industries” can create hazards.
Worst fire
The worst fire he can recall in Secaucus was in the early 1960s at the American Can Company. The company had a large facility in Jersey City, but stored cans, milk cartons, and other items in a warehouse in Secaucus. When the warehouse caught fire, thousands of wax-coated milk cartons fed the fire for days.
“I think we spent three or four days trying to put that out,” Schoenrock remembered.
Of course, like any firefighter, Schoenrock has seen his share of false alarms, too.
“Those tend to happen in old buildings that have older alarm systems,” he said. “Eventually you kind of learn which buildings they are and you pretty much know there’s a good chance it’s a false alarm. But you go anyway because you never know.”
As Secaucus continues to evolve and reinvent itself the department, he noted, has to keep up with the times.
“Alternative energy is the big thing now and you see more and more buildings putting these solar panels on their roofs. Well, if you aren’t careful, they can be a fire hazard, too. So we’ll be getting some training around that pretty soon.”
A retired PSE&G employee, Schoenrock said he isn’t sure when, of if, he’ll hang up his fireman’s uniform.
“I still enjoy it, and still think I can contribute,” he said. “We have a number of young people coming into the department. I know eventually these younger guys will replace folks like me. But I can’t tell you when that will be…I love this department. And I love this town.”
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.