General Info

The Rutherford First Aid-Ambulance Corps (RFAAC) was founded in 1949 to provide Basic Life Support services to the Borough of Rutherford, New Jersey.  The organization was started as  an unincorporated association and was incorporated on August 3rd 1950. 

Today, the RFAAC has an active membership of approximately 40 volunteers, 30 of which perform ambulance service in the field. With the exception of Building Maintenance, Insurance, and Fuel, the Ambulance Corps receives no support from the municipal government. The organization is funded strictly through contributions from the public.

The RFAAC provides emergency care to everyone. We respond to approximately 1,400 calls per year.

Members active in the EMS role must be accredited by the New Jersey State Department of Health as an Emergency Medical Technician-Basic (EMT-B).

The RFAAC also participates in the EMT-Defibrillator program in conjunction with our Advanced Life Support (ALS) agency, Hackensack University Medical Center, and is a member of the 24th district of the New Jersey State First Aid Council.

Help us to help you - volunteer with the Rutherford First Aid-Ambulance Corps! Please see our Membership page for more information.

Our History

During the summer of 1949, a small group of Rutherfordians began discussing the possibility of forming a Volunteer Ambulance Corps for the benefit of the citizens of Rutherford. The need for such an organization was becoming more apparent as many of the surrounding hospitals were discontinuing their ambulance service. At that time, the only ambulance available to the people of Rutherford was a 12-year-old model manned entirely by the police force. Answering a call meant drawing a policeman from his regularly assigned duties, often causing a shortage in areas where police were badly needed.

As plans progressed for the formation of the Ambulance Corps, the three men instrumental in launching this project, Mr. Thomas M. Crotzer, Mr. Roland D’Ablemont and Mr. C. Douglas Collyer were working hard to create interest and to recruit potential members. Meetings were held in private homes, and in meeting rooms of the various firehouses as well as informal meetings at the V.F.W. hall. Interest was growing and support was promised. Many of the surrounding towns had already established an Ambulance Corps and a successful operation was in progress.

The efforts of Messers. Crotzer, D’Ablemont and Collyer finally paid off on August 24, 1950, when the newly established Ambulance Corps of 18 members took its first patient to the hospital. The patient was a female resident at 270 Union Avenue who was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Passaic with a fractured hip in a brand new A.J. Miller Company, Cadillac Eight, Metropolitan Model, 100-horse power motor ambulance, capable of carrying three patients with two large side doors for loading the patients. The cost of the vehicle was $7,134.00.

The original headquarters for the newly formed Ambulance Corps was located at the rear of the Ames Avenue Fire House, which had once been the horse stable for the fire department horses. The Borough leased the building to the Ambulance Corps for $1.00 per year. The former stable site remained the headquarters for the Ambulance Corps until its demolition and construction on site of its current facility, which was completed in 1982.

While the primary mission of the Rutherford First Aid Ambulance Corps remains the same today as it did since its inception back in 1949, much has changed in the world of pre-hospital emergency medical care, equipment, training, technology and ambulance call volume. The first annual report submitted by the Ambulance Corps in 1951, which included the last four months of 1950, revealed that the organization responded to a total of 232 calls, of which 47 were test runs, covering 3,013 miles. In 2004, our organization responded to a total of 1,304 calls for assistance, traveling over 13,497 miles. Our first ambulance purchased in 1950 cost $7,134.00, our newest ambulance recently received cost $140,500.00. Up to the early 1970’s, members were alerted to an emergency call via telephone from a physicians answering service. Today, members are alerted to an ambulance call by tone-activated radios with two-way radio transmission capabilities. Members training in the late 1940’s, early 1950’s, consisted of basic first aid training made available by the American Red Cross. Our members are now required to complete at a minimum, the 120-hour Emergency Medical Technician training program and be certified in professional level CPR, along with completing on going continuing education programs and re-certifing their training every three years. The Ambulance Corps first year of ambulance service was started with 18 members, today our organization strength of certified EMT’s has doubled.

The Rutherford First Aid Ambulance Corps continues to rely on the financial support from our residents and businesses to support our life saving efforts. Based on our call volume, our operating expense for each ambulance call responded to is approximately $100.00.  Our operating budget is completely financed through donations, including the purchase of our life saving equipment and our three ambulances. Give a Life Saving Gift To Your Community! Consider becoming a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician with our organization. Free training will be commencing shortly. Please call our 24-hour recruitment hot line number at 201-460-3000 X 3181 for more information or visit our web site at www.rutherfordems.org. Help us to help you by continuing to carry on a 56-year tradition of providing free emergency medical services to the community of Rutherford by highly trained dedicated volunteers.