Teaneck, Fort Lee Handling Leonia Fire Calls After Sex Abuse Allegation

Leonia’s volunteer fire department has been “temporarily suspended” and firefighters from Teaneck and Fort Lee are covering fire calls in the borough after a teenager was accused of sexually abusing a 3-year-old boy at the borough’s fire headquarters, a Leonia official said Monday.

The Teaneck Fire Department is handling emergency calls on Leonia’s west side while Fort Lee crews cover the east side, Borough Administrator Jack Terhune said.

“Right now it’s temporarily suspended pending action by the mayor and council in a reorganizational effort and I don’t know how long that will take,” Terhune said of the borough’s fire department. “It’s just temporarily been suspended.”

The borough council was reviewing the issue and expected to release a plan for the department's future in the coming days.  

“I don’t want to be speculative about what the council will do,” he said, adding the department was not being disbanded.

“I am comfortable that it’s a temporary solution to continue to provide adequate fire protection to the borough of Leonia,” Terhune said.

Englewood firefighters will also assist Teaneck in the responses, he said. Teaneck, Fort Lee and Englewood fire crews would continue to respond from their towns and not be stationed in Leonia, Terhune said. The agreement went into effect at noon Monday. 

“I have no doubt whatsoever that they’ll get the same level of service that they’re accustomed to,” Terhune said of Leonia residents.

Borough officials made the decision last night in response to the arrest of 18-year-old Darius Levine, of Leonia. Prosecutors have accused Levine of sexually abusing a 3-year-old boy at the borough’s fire station.

Levine, a developmentally disabled student at Community High School in Teaneck, “engaged in inappropriate sexual activity with a three year old male acquaintance,” Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said in a statement issued Sunday.

Leonia officials last week closed the firehouse for all but emergency response purposes after the abuse allegations surfaced. The child is reportedly the son of a firefighter who was standing nearby when the alleged assault took place. Levine had applied to become a volunteer firefighter, but had not taken the required physical exam, the Record reported Sunday. 

Terhune referred questions about the investigation to the prosecutor's office. 

There was nothing to indicate borough firefighters would face criminal charges, Molinelli said in an e-mail Tuesday morning. 

The borough is not paying for the help from outside fire departments, officials in Teaneck and Leonia said.

Teaneck Township Manager William Broughton said he expected the arrangement to last about a week. Teaneck would not be adding firefighters to deal with the expanded territory, he said.

Covering Leonia’s calls was also not expected to impact service to township residents or increase the fire department’s overtime, Broughton said.

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First published 7 p.m. Monday. Last updated 9:45 a.m. Tuesday.