Southard Fire Department #1 is located at 4611 Route 9 North, in Howell Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey just across the street from the Howell K-Mart store. Howell Township is situated in the southernmost portion of Monmouth County on the border of Ocean County. Howell Township is surrounded by Freehold Township to the North, Wall Township to the East, Jackson Township to the West, and Lakewood Township to the South. We proudly protect 20,000 people living in an area of about 18 square miles. We operate out of 2 stations that protect a primarily residential area. We protect Howell Twp. from Aldrich Road South to the border of Lakewood Twp. and from Jackson Township to County Route 547.

Our calls consist of fire alarm soundings, motor vehicle accidents, brush fires, structure fires, EMS (Emergency Medical Service) calls, and mutual aid calls. Along with fire protection we also provide several specialty teams such as Underwater Search and Recovery Team, Hazardous Materials (Haz-Mat) Response Team, Confined Space Team, and Rapid Intervention Team ( R.I.T). Many of our members are First Responder First Aid Certified as well as EMT's (Emergency Medical Technician). We will support the Howell Township First Aid when requested, so don't be surprised when a fire engine shows up to your emergency when you call for a ambulance, and PLEASE don't say that you didn't call for the fire department. We know this and there will be an ambulance coming very shortly. We have established mutual aid agreements for large scale incidents with other local departments which include Squankum Fire Company Station 19-1, Adelphia Fire Company Station 19-2, Ramtown Fire Company Station 19-4, Freewood Acres Fire Company Station 19-5, Jackson Station 55,54, and Lakewood Fire Department.

The department consists of 52 volunteer firefighters, 4 paid firefighters and the Southard Fire Dept. Ladies Auxiliary. Our paid firefighters are available Monday thru Friday from 08:00 to 16:00 (4:00pm ) excluding holidays. The paid firefighters were hired by the Board of Fire Commissioners of District #3 to supplement the volunteer force during daytime hours. This was done to make sure that there was adequate fire protection during the hours when most of our volunteers are at work. We are available 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, including holidays, all you have to do is dial 9-1-1.

We are dispatched from either Howell Township Police or Monmouth County Fire Radio and operate on the following fire ground channels.

Monmouth Fire 1 154.430 MHz Dispatch
Howell Fire 2 154.385 MHz Response
Howell Fire 3 154.130 MHz Fire Ground
Howell Fire 4 154.250 MHz Fire Ground
Howell Fire 5 154.220 MHz Fire Ground
Howell Local EMS 153.980 MHz EMS Channel
Monmouth Fire 3 154.280 MHz Fire Ground Back Up
Monmouth Fire 5 153.830 MHz Fire Ground Back Up