Turnout has been so low in the past few months that the company has asked the county's dispatch center for indefinite backup.
HAMILTON -- The absence of volunteers at the Colonial Volunteer Fire Co. has led to fire apparatus being unable to respond to emergency calls during the evening and overnight hours recently, officials say and documents show.
The turnout has been so low in the past few months that the company's volunteer fire chief, Joseph Scharnitz Jr., sent a letter to Mercer County's dispatch center in May asking for indefinite backup for Colonial's response area.
The May 10 letter, obtained by NJ Advance Media, asks for an extra fire engine - from another fire station - to be dispatched to all fire calls after 5 p.m. until 7 a.m. on weekdays, and all weekend.
"This will be until further notice," Scharnitz wrote.
A crew of career firefighters, who work for Hamilton Fire District 8, man the station on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Wayne D'Artagnan, president of District 8's board of fire commissioners, said the district plans to hire an additional career firefighter and is working actively on the issue.
But volunteerism at Colonial is an ongoing issue for the fire company, as is the mandated 2 percent cap on tax levy increases that fire districts in New Jersey must comply with.
"We're having some issues with volunteers," D'Artagnan said. "We just don't have as many."
The township's two career fire unions said the District 8 / Colonial manpower issue is just another example of why the township's fire district consolidation needs to happen as soon as possible.
"This is why we have been calling for consolidation, and this is nothing new," Shane Mull, firefighters' union vice president said.
The fire company and fire district on Kuser Road operates as a "career combo" fire department, meaning career firefighters - who work for District 8 - supplement volunteer firefighters, who belong to the Colonial Volunteer Fire Co.
Traditionally, volunteerism in the daytime hours was lower, when volunteer firefighters were at their day jobs. So fire districts hired daytime, career firefighters to ensure a timely response to fire calls.
Then at night, volunteers would do the bulk of responding.
Some Hamilton fire districts now operate 24 hours a day with career firefighters, with volunteers still responding whenever they can, day or night.
At Colonial, a District 8 career firefighter stays on duty overnight, from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m., to be ready to respond - usually driving the firetruck - once two volunteers arrive, D'Artagnan said.
National and state firefighting guidelines call for a minimum of three firefighters for a fire engine to leave the firehouse on a cal.
"There are some nights that volunteers don't show up," D'Artagnan said. "It's a difficult situation."
For the past three months, in reports he makes at District 8's monthly meeting, Scharnitz wrote that manpower continues to be an issue for the volunteer company, and they plan to change their membership process.
In his June letter, Scharnitz wrote that the company - if no volunteers arrive to a fire call - will also be bypassed for mutual aid, in which the fire company backs up other local fire companies and districts.
Scharnitz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
D'Artagnan said Colonial has about five to 10 active volunteers, but the reason they do not show to fire calls is a mix of several issues that's been building int he volunteer ranks for years. They range form people focused more on their own careers, to expensive training and hard work at all ours of the night.
While the district works to attract more volunteers, D'Artagnan said the district has a new career firefighter transferring in soon and the commissioners are certifying a hiring list to employ another career firefighter.
He did not say if they plan to staff the station 24 hours a day.
D'Artagnan did say the district is working with their accountant and attorney to see if there's any way they can hire more career firefighters. "But that 2 percent cap is killing us," he said.
"We're doing what we can," he said.
In a Facebook post, Hamilton Councilman Ed Gore responded to the situation by saying he would ask the township council's president to call for a council hearing to investigate.
"It seems to me the taxpayers in District 8 are being shortchanged and the taxpayers in the other Districts are having to subsidize District 8," Gore wrote.
Meanwhile, the consolidation process grinds on, Mull said, and the fire unions continue to add resident-signed petitions to the batch delivered earlier this year to the Hamilton clerk's office.
Any Hamilton resident wishing to sign a petition that calls for fire district consolidation can do so Friday night fireworks display at Veterans Park, where the unions plan to set up a table from 5 to 10 p.m. for the effort.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.