Neal Stoffers is a retired Newark Fire Captain. He began his career as a firefighter assigned to Engine Company 6 located on Springfield Avenue and Hunterdon Street and fought fires in Newark’s Central Ward from the late 1970s until the mid 1980s. During this period he found time to earn a B.A. from Seton Hall University. In 1991 he earned an M.A. from the same school.
Health problems forced him out of the firehouse, but not off the job. Over the next twenty years, his varied assignments included everything from the Office of Hazardous Materials to vice president of the Newark Firefighters Union. However, most Newark firefighters will remember him instructing them at the Training Academy.
*Why the name Springfield and Hunterdon Publishing?
The author spent some of the happiest, most fulfilling years of his life fighting fires out of the small firehouse located on this corner. The NFD Oral History Project was begun to honor all of Newark’s bravest, but a special debt is owed by the author to the men of Springfield and Hunterdon. This name is an attempt to repay a small portion of this debt.
