Mark Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

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Mark Mueller | NJ Advance Media

Small state, big pay

In New Jersey, top pay for municipal fire chiefs trails the hefty salaries for police chiefs, but not by much, according to an analysis of salary data from the state Treasury Department. Nine fire chiefs and deputy chiefs make more than $200,000 annually. Forty-eight others, including battalion chiefs, make more than $175,000, the statutory salary of the state's governor. The state last updated its database March 31.

New Jersey's firefighters are the best paid in the nation by far, with an average salary of $81,590 in 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

To put the salaries in context, NJ Advance Media is including town or city populations, average 2015 property taxes for each community and the size of each department based on state payroll records. The total number of incidents for each department was drawn from the state Division of Fire Safety. Fire departments self-report the incidents.

In additional to fires and false alarms, departments respond to motor vehicle accidents, building entrapments, hazardous materials incidents and other emergencies. The number of incidents in some departments is especially high because they operate ambulances. The most recent data on incidents is from 2014.

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Most generous counties for chiefs

If you aspire to someday become a fire chief, best to do it in Hudson County, where the money flows more easily than anyplace else. More than half of the 57 chiefs who make at least $175,000 annually work in the county. A dozen work for just one department, North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue, which covers five Hudson County communities.

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Mark Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Passaic Chief Patrick Trentacost

Salary: $175,268

County: Passaic

Size of department: 96

Total incidents (2014): 3,438

Population estimate (2015): 71,085

Average property taxes (2015): $9,667

Trentacost is seen at center in this 2014 photo. (Justin Zaremba | NJ Advance Media)

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Teaneck Chief Anthony Verley

Salary: $176,272

County: Bergen

Size of department: 88

Total incidents (2014): 3,351

Population estimate (2015): 40,972

Average property taxes (2015): $11,513

Chief Verley is at lower left. Teaneck fire headquarters is at top. Lower right, a satellite fire station. (Google street view and Teaneck Fire Department)

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Mark Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

West Orange Chief Peter Smeraldo

Salary: $178,811

County: Essex

Size of department: 84

Total incidents (2014): 5,072

Population estimate (2015): 47,390

Average property taxes (2015): $12,895

Chief Smeraldo, right, is one of seven chiefs or deputy chiefs from Essex County to eclipse $175,000 in salary. The photo at left shows firefighters responding to a 2010 car fire on Route 280 in West Orange. (Courtesy Frank Ingram)

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New Brunswick Fire Director Robert Rawls

Salary: $181,802

County: Middlesex

Size of department: 92

Total incidents (2014): 2,859

Population estimate (2015): 57,035

Average property taxes (2015): $6,710

Chief Rawls is in the lower left photo. At right, firefighters attack a synagogue fire from the air in October 2015. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Ridgewood Chief James Van Goor

Salary: $182,554

County: Bergen

Size of department: 40

Total incidents (2014): 2,078

Population estimate (2015): 25,621

Average property taxes (2015): $16,798

Chief Van Goor is at lower left. Top, Ridgewood firefighters rescued a cat from this 2012 house fire. Lower right, a Google street view of the Ridgewood Fire Department.

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Union Township Chief Thomas Byrne

Salary: $183,360

County: Union

Size of department: 98

Total incidents (2014): 4,905

Population estimate (2015): 58,128

Average property taxes (2015): $8,402

In a photo taken earlier this month, Chief Thomas Byrne explains the use of extrication technology. (Katie Park | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Englewood Chief Gerald Marion

Salary: $187,092

County: Bergen

Size of department: 57

Total incidents (2014): Incomplete data submitted

Population estimate (2015): 28,539

Average property taxes (2015): $11,667

Chief Marion, lower left, is the city's second African-American chief. Marion's deputy chief, Erik Enersen, makes $177,852 annually, state records show. At lower right is the Englewood Fire Department. In the top photo, firefighters work to extinguish a five-alarm blaze in a recording studio. (File photo)

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Belleville Chief Robert Caruso

Salary: $191,693

County: Essex

Size of department: 67

Total incidents (2014): 5,016

Population estimate (2015): 36,354

Average property taxes (2015): 8,818

Chief Caruso oversees two deputy chiefs, George Pedalino and Thomas Sbarra, who make $189,169 and $184,181, respectively. The YouTube video shows Belleville firefighters working a two-alarm fire on Belmont Avenue in November 2015.

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Hoboken Chief Anton Peskens

Salary: $192,242

County: Hudson

Size of department: 110

Total incidents (2014): 3,258

Population estimate (2015): 53,635

Average property taxes (2015): $7,751

Chief Peskens, who was appointed in 2015, is seen here in 2006. He said in an interview at the time that he grew up across the street from the firehouse where the photo was taken and always wanted to be a firefighter.

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Hackensack Chief Thomas J. Freeman

Salary: $192,588

County: Bergen

Size of department: 96

Total incidents (2014): 4,395

Population estimate (2015): 44,834

Average property taxes (2015): $8,373

Chief Thomas Freeman, seen here in a recent Facebook photo, was one of two Hackensack firefighters who made more than $175,000. The other, Deputy Chief Frederick Longobardi, retired March 31. Longobardi made $177,316 annually.

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Bloomfield Chief Joseph M. McCarthy

Salary: $193,273

County: Essex

Size of department: 71

Total incidents (2014): 1,919

Population estimate (2015): 48,726

Average property taxes (2015): $10,356

Chief McCarthy, top left, in 2009, when he was deputy chief. In the photo at right, Bloomfield firefighters helped fight a raging house fire in Belleville in December 2009. Lower left, Bloomfield firefighters scale a ladder to fight a warehouse fire in 1995. (File photos)

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Newark Chief John Centanni

Salary: $197,400

County: Essex

Size of department: 572

Total incidents (2014): 10,532

Population estimate (2015): 281,944

Average property taxes (2015): $5,764

Chief John Centanni, lower left, poses with a fire truck at Newark fire headquarters in October 2010, a day after his appointment to the post. In the top photo from 1995, a Newark firefighter works to ventilate a burning house. Bottom right, Newark firefighters battle a four-alarm blaze at a composting facility. (File photos)

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Kearny Chief Steven Dyl

Salary: $197,788

County: Hudson

Size of department: 85

Total incidents (2014): 2,346

Population estimate (2015): 42,137

Average property taxes (2015): $9,822

Chief Steven Dyl, lower left, presides over four deputy chiefs who also top the $175K salary threshold. Joseph Viscuso, Frank Viscuso, John S. Harris and Robert Osborn all make $177,429 annually. In the top photo submitted by Dean McDermott, the Kearny Fire Department responds to a house fire on Laurel Avenue in September 2015. Lower right, firefighters knock down a fire on Washington Avenue in March 2016. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)

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Hillside Chief Dominick Naples

Salary: $200,512

County: Union

Size of department: 45

Total incidents (2014): Incomplete data submitted

Population estimate (2015): 21,984

Average property taxes (2015): $9,096

Chief Dominick Naples is at lower left. Top, Hillside firefighters douse a warehouse blaze in 2008. (File photo) Lower right, a Google street view of the Hillside Fire Department.

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Elizabeth Chief Thomas M. McNamara

Salary: $200,573

County: Union

Size of department: 217

Total incidents (2014): 20,540

Population estimate (2015): 129,007

Average property taxes (2015): $9,073

In the top file photo from May 2015, Chief Thomas McNamara, far left, listens to bagpipers at the 200 Club of Union County Valor Awards. Deputy Chief Carl Heitmeyer, lower left, makes $176,337. Two other deputy chiefs, Donald Peterson, center, and Lathey Wirkus, lower right, make $175,537.

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Jersey City Chief Darren Rivers

Salary: $202,067

County: Hudson

Size of department: 573

Total incidents (2014): 27,123

Population estimate (2015): 264,290

Average property taxes (2015): $6,772

Chief Rivers, top center, is one of at least eight members of the Jersey City Fire Department to make more than $175,000. Clockwise from top right, the others are Deputy Chiefs Wayne McCarthy, Anthony Della Rossa, Michael Terpak, Gregory Lallo, Joseph Giancastro, Richard Lapinski and Kevin J. Stewart. Not pictured: Timothy Foy. All make $186,987.

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Bayonne Chief Keith Weaver

Salary: $206,048

County: Hudson

Size of department: 170

Total incidents (2014): 4,442

Population estimate (2015): 66,311

Average property taxes (2015): $9,605

Chief Weaver, right, took over from retiring chief Gregory Rogers in March. Rogers' salary when he retired was just over $241,000. He will receive an annual pension of $167,118 and a payout of $231,798 for unused vacation, sick time and terminal leave, the Jersey Journal reported. (Michael Dempsey | The Jersey Journal)

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Bayonne deputy and battalion chiefs

In addition to Chief Weaver, one deputy chief and four battalion chiefs in Bayonne all make more than $175,000. Battalion Chiefs Paul Avery, Joseph Lyga and Peter McMonagle have salaries of $179,170, state records show.

The records reflect that Deputy Chief William Bartos has the same salary, but because he was recently promoted, a pay bump is expected once the state updates its database. Another battalion chief, Eric Nelson, makes $175,360.

The YouTube video shows Bayonne firefighters attacking a three-alarm fire on Avenue E in February 2016.

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Frank Montagne, chief of North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue

North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue was created in 1999 with the merger of local departments. It covers Guttenberg, North Bergen, Union City, Weehawken and West New York.

Salary: $225,087

County: Hudson

Size of department: 264

Total incidents (2014): 7,465

Population estimate (2015): 211,220*

Average property taxes (2015): NA

* Total population of the department's coverage area.

In this photo from February 2013, North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue Chief Frank Montagne addresses 30 military veterans who were sworn in as new firefighters. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

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North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue

Beyond Chief Montagne, 11 members of North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue make more than the governor's statutory salary of $175,000.

Deputy Chief Michael Cranwell (bottom left inset): $221,789

Deputy Chief Charles Thomas (second from left): $206,551

Deputy Chief John Halpin Jr. (center inset): $190,313

Deputy Chief Michael Falco (second from right): $189,943

Battalion Chief Leonard Calvo (right inset): $182,586

Not pictured:

Deputy Chief Nicholas Gazzillo: $205,273

Deputy Chief David Donnarumma: $198,500

Deputy Chief David Curtis: $193,006

Battalion Chief Dominic Rovito: $177,444

Deputy Chief David Barth: $177,444

Battalion Chief Jonathan Rush: $177,120

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Paterson Chief Michael Postorino

Salary: $226,567

County: Passaic

Size of department: 319

Total incidents (2014): 6,093

Population estimate (2015): 147,754

Average property taxes (2015): $7,912

Chief Michael Postorino, seen at right in this photo of a graduation ceremony for new firefighters earlier this year, is one of four people in the Paterson Fire Department to make more than $175,000. A senior deputy chief, Kevin Hancock, is paid $187,348. Two other deputy chiefs, Michael Fleming and William Henderson, make $184,205 and $176,084, respectively. (Robert Sciarrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Mark Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

And how do they compare to police chiefs?

In March, NJ Advance Media took a look at police chief salaries, finding that 24 make more than $200,000 annually. The highest earner, Wood-Ridge police Chief Joseph Rutigliano, pulled down nearly $255,000 in annual salary before retiring earlier this year.

The analysis showed many of the best compensated police chiefs presided over small departments in wealthy communities.

Here's the complete list.

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