The firefighters who protect the state’s Air National Guard fighter wing at Atlantic City International Airport are now eligible for entry in the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System, or PFRS.

The change took effect Monday and follows years of efforts to bring recognition of their work in alignment with peers around the state, the department’s union says.

The 177th Fighter Wing Fire Department is a 23-member, civilian 24/7 firefighting force that serves the guard’s 177th Fighter Wing, a U.S. Air Force component. The group falls under the N.J. Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

The fire department was started in 1987 to protect the fighter wing, but its members were given unclassified posts called “staff assistants.” The word “firefighter” was literally written in parenthes

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