Two Seek Bridgewater Fire District 1 Seats

A man whose father died in service to the volunteer fire department is running for the commission of Fire District 1 in this year’s elections.

The four districts in Bridgewater Township will be holding their individual elections Saturday to choose commissioners and request approval for their district budgets. The polls will be open from 2 to 9 p.m.

For district 1, which encompasses the Martinsville Fire Company, voters will be casting ballots for two people running for two open seats on the commission.

Anthony Natalizio is running for an open three-year term on the commission.

“He decided he wanted to be involved in the department in any way he could participate,” said Bill Rose, of the Martinsville Fire Company.

On Feb. 16, 1971, while he was fighting a car fire. Natalizio suffered burns over a good portion of his body and was transported to the Harlem Hospital Burn Center in New York City, where he died on April 5.

A plaque was dedicated to him 27 years later at the fire company.

Also running for the commission, Rose said, is Anthony Patullo, who is running for an unexpired two-year seat.

“He moved here from Bound Brook, and was at one time a councilman in Bound Brook,” Rose said.

As for the budget, the district is asking for approval of a $481,823 budget for 2013, with $475,384 to be raised through taxation.

“The budget went up a little because of the value of the cap,” Rose said. “The board went and put money in a contingency plan because of concerns of potential programs.”

“In the last couple of years, there have been some events, and Hurricane Sandy was more than 100 calls for us,” he added. “They felt that having some small contingency available would behoove us given the last couple of years.”

In addition, Rose said, the district is asking for authorization to put aside $50,000 for the purchase of a generator, and another $550,000 for fire apparatus.

“It is a generator for station two after our experience with Sandy,” he said. “We think we need some upgrades because we were out of power for 12 days.”

“And we need to buy new fire apparatuses, we have some stuff that is getting old,” he added.

Rose said they are not planning to actually make the purchases this year, but the approval allows the district to move forward with authorizations for it.

Voting will be held at the Martinsville Fire House on Washington Valley Road.