04/11/2026
Have you ever noticed at odds times of the day or night a pair of blue lights flashing in your rear view mirror? Did you wonder what those lights meant?
As your North Caldwell Department Fire is proudly staffed by volunteers for nearly 104 years, we often need to respond from our homes, businesses, or the grocery store to the firehouse in the event of an emergency.
In order to be able to get the fire engines on the road in a timely manner to respond to an emergency, firefighters are able to obtain a permit to utilize a blue light to let other motorists know that they are responding to an emergency. These lights warrant firefighters to pass other vehicles, when it is safe to do so.
Under New Jersey law, these lights have the same requirements to yield the right of way as a responding police car or fire truck. When it is safe to do so, a motorist should yield the right of way to a vehicle responding with these lights.
Whether it is on Mountain Avenue, Central Avenue, or Knollwood Drive, when you see blue lights in your rear view mirror, you should yield the right of way, when it is safe to do so, to the firefighter responding to an emergency.
Flashing blue lights on non-police vehicles in New Jersey aren't just flashy, they indicate something just as important as if it was a police car.
