Chief Robert Jenkins Answers His Last Alarm

 

 

Recently, Department Chief Robert A. Jenkins of the Rockaway Township Fire Department was laid to rest. Chief Jenkins, 54, of Rockaway Township, passed away at home on Wednesday, July 7, 2010, following a short illness.

Chief Jenkins worked as a firefighter and was a past captain at Picatinny Arsenal in Rockaway Township. He retired in December 2009 after 26 years of service. Jenkins was a volunteer firefighter and past chief of the Birchwood Fire Company Number Four since 1975. He currently was Department Chief of the Rockaway Township Fire Department and past driver for the Dover Fire Department.

Chief Jenkins drew support from firefighters across the nation in 2006 following a jurisdictional dispute with a state police trooper at a Route 80 accident scene. Jenkins, then Deputy Chief, directed a firefighter to park a fire truck diagonally across a right travel lane to create a safety buffer for first responders and was arrested after he refused the trooper's order to free up the lane. Charges against Jenkins were later dropped and the widely publicized saga ended with Jenkins and the state trooper shaking hands. Ironically, Chief Jenkins funeral procession created quite a back up along Route 80 as it traveled to the Arsenal for Chief Jenkins final call. Chief Jenkins was a son, husband, father, brother, friend, and boss to many. He will be greatly missed by everyone whose life he touched.
 

-Fire News photos by John D. Clark and Ryan Reilly