NJMedic

Apparently the whole world has something scheduled this weekend, Some many choices, so little time.

Apparently the whole world has something scheduled this weekend, Some many choices, so little time.

An excuse that in the end didn't work for the American fire service.

An excuse that in the end didn't work for the American fire service.

An excuse that in the end didn't work for the American fire service.

Last photo has a Holmatro tool in the rear compartment. Truely an ESU vehicle or something along those lines.

The NJSP has no plans to get out of the business. i would hope they didn't just waste my tax dollars on new Agustas just to have them sit in West Trenton waiting to the occasional flight. The NJSP is the only operation in NJ that flies with two pilots. I don't know how Hackensack is going to make money. There first due area is very small, squeezed between the NY state line to the north, the Hudson River to the east and other flight operations to south and west.

Might have been a book published by the NY Daily News for their photo coolection featuring the FDNY. I have the book at home and will see if there is a photo such as the one described.

Sure, no problem. Just need help with a few things.
1. Cash
2. Some place to store it, relateded to #1
3. Divorce Lawyer
4. Cash once the divorce becomes final, related again to #1

Urban.

Can't speak to the fire operations but NJ EMD has exercised our mutual aid pact with FDNY several times in the last ten years. In a nut shell FDNY will put a request into NYC OEM for resources and the OEM watch desk will reach out to the Regional EMS Communications Center in Newark to activate the NJ Plan. NJ assets can and would usually report to a NJ staging area and a final check at the crossings before going into NYC. Typically arranged in strike team or task force (NIMS concepts) and either escorted by a NJ EMS Supervisor or meet on the City side by FDNY Lt and brought to a NYC staging area. The desire is to place one FDNY member on board the NJ ambulance. No chase cars are used, all paramedics are teamed up with a BLS ambulance. Of course if there is a ALS ambulance they remain the same. NJ has responded to NYC on 2/93, 09/11, 2003 power failure and last year's blizzard. Operational period are 12 hours. Last year NJ was in NYC for 48 hours. No more than 3 EMTs with photo ID are allowed per ambulance. no specialty vehicles. If specialty vehicles are needed FDNY knows what we have and we know what they have. We meet we FDNY every quarter. I would have to think there is equivalent planning with Westchester and Nassau Counties
On a side note……On 9/11 we deconn'ed over 25,000 people coming over via boat and landing in Hoboken. Of course we didn't have 25,000 sets of re-dress and rather than having 25,000 people running around naked they we deconn'ed with the clothes on. I think one two people objects and once the two nice 6ft7 NJ State Troopers talked to them they elected to get de'conned as well. Extra attention was paid to those who were injured or dust covered.
It's is rather easy to shut down the transit system at a moment's notice. Trains stop at the first station, buses pull off to the side. The is already a plan in place.
On the whole there is a whole team that has been working on a evacuation planning for the last several years. http://regionalcatpl...gional_ep.shtml

Yes I know that Penn Station is under MSG. I wasn't under the impresion that MTA PD was sneaking into Ranger/Knick games. LIRR is a MTA operation and I would suspect that is who they are dealing with at Penn.
Aforementioned ESU ERP outside Penn Station....

A run down of who's who in Essex County, NJ
Belleville (township) Career
Bloomfield (township) Career with volunteer assistance, http://www.bloomfieldfire.org/bfd/bloomfield-volunteer-fire-rescue-company
Caldwell (borough) Volunteer
Cedar Grove (township) Volunteer
City of Orange (township) Career
East Orange (city) Career
Essex Fells (borough) Volunteer
Fairfield (township) Volunteer
Glen Ridge (borough) covered by Montclair
Irvington (township) Career
Livingston (township) Volunteer
Maplewood (township) Career
Millburn (township) Career/Volunteer
Montclair (township) Career
Newark (city) Career
North Caldwell (borough)
Nutley (township) Career/Volunteer
Roseland (borough) Volunteer
South Orange Village (township) Career
Verona (township) Volunteer
West Caldwell (township) Volunteer
West Orange (township) Career

A run down of who's who in Essex County, NJ
Belleville (township) Career
Bloomfield (township) Career with volunteer assistance, http://www.bloomfieldfire.org/bfd/bloomfield-volunteer-fire-rescue-company
Caldwell (borough) Volunteer
Cedar Grove (township) Volunteer
City of Orange (township) Career
East Orange (city) Career
Essex Fells (borough) Volunteer
Fairfield (township) Volunteer
Glen Ridge (borough) covered by Montclair
Irvington (township) Career
Livingston (township) Volunteer
Maplewood (township) Career
Millburn (township) Career/Volunteer
Montclair (township) Career
Newark (city) Career
North Caldwell (borough)
Nutley (township) Career/Volunteer
Roseland (borough) Volunteer
South Orange Village (township) Career
Verona (township) Volunteer
West Caldwell (township) Volunteer
West Orange (township) Career

Photos courtesy of WPXI and the Beaver County Times

Can't speak to the fire operations but NJ EMD has exercised our mutual aid pact with FDNY several times in the last ten years. In a nut shell FDNY will put a request into NYC OEM for resources and the OEM watch desk will reach out to the Regional EMS Communications Center in Newark to activate the NJ Plan. NJ assets can and would usually report to a NJ staging area and a final check at the crossings before going into NYC. Typically arranged in strike team or task force (NIMS concepts) and either escorted by a NJ EMS Supervisor or meet on the City side by FDNY Lt and brought to a NYC staging area. The desire is to place one FDNY member on board the NJ ambulance. No chase cars are used, all paramedics are teamed up with a BLS ambulance. Of course if there is a ALS ambulance they remain the same. NJ has responded to NYC on 2/93, 09/11, 2003 power failure and last year's blizzard. Operational period are 12 hours. Last year NJ was in NYC for 48 hours. No more than 3 EMTs with photo ID are allowed per ambulance. no specialty vehicles. If specialty vehicles are needed FDNY knows what we have and we know what they have. We meet we FDNY every quarter. I would have to think there is equivalent planning with Westchester and Nassau Counties
On a side note……On 9/11 we deconn'ed over 25,000 people coming over via boat and landing in Hoboken. Of course we didn't have 25,000 sets of re-dress and rather than having 25,000 people running around naked they we deconn'ed with the clothes on. I think one two people objects and once the two nice 6ft7 NJ State Troopers talked to them they elected to get de'conned as well. Extra attention was paid to those who were injured or dust covered.
It's is rather easy to shut down the transit system at a moment's notice. Trains stop at the first station, buses pull off to the side. The is already a plan in place.
On the whole there is a whole team that has been working on a evacuation planning for the last several years. http://regionalcatpl...gional_ep.shtml

In 2006, the New Jersey Legislature directed the Commissioner of the Department of Health and Senior Services to conduct a study of the New Jersey Emergency Medical Services (EMS) System. The findings of that study indicated the State's enabling EMS legislation and subsequent regulations require comprehensive overhaul in order to allow the system, and its various components, to make necessary improvements in medical care and to function in the most optimal and cost effective manner. The study also found that such changes were needed soon to avoid a catastrophic failure of the system.
At the direction of the NJ State Department of Health and Senior Services, a diverse stakeholder group comprising of the NJ EMS Council and representatives from virtually all EMS component providers was convened. The task force was charged with providing a consensus path to implement the study's recommendations. Members of the task force included representatives of:
American College of Emergency Physicians
(NJ Chapter)
Medical Transportation Association of NJ
NJ State First Aid Council
NJ League of Municipalities
Mobile Intensive Care Unit Advisory Council
JemSTAR
Governor's EMS for Children Advisory Council
St. Barnabas Medical Center Burn Center
NJ Poison Information & Ed System
EMT Training Fund Advisory Council
NJ Trauma Council
NJ Hospital Association
NJ Office of Emergency Management (County EMS Coordinators)
Large BLS and ALS Provider (Suburban)
Legal Counsel
Communications Committee
Professional Firefighters Association of NJ (IAFF)
NJ Career Fire Chiefs Association
NJ State Police
NJ Association of Paramedic Programs
NJ Office of Highway Traffic Safety
Large BLS and ALS Provider (Urban)
NJ Office of Emergency Telecommunications
Emergency Nurses Association
NJ Dept of Health & Senior Services, NJ DHSS, Office of EMS
Individual EMS Physician
Individual Public Member
Individual Volunteer EMT
Individual Career Private EMT
Individual Paramedic
After over 8 months of meetings on the subject, the group developed detailed recomendations to change the EMS system in NJ. New legislation (S 818 and its companion bill A2095) was drafted to incorporate the recommendations and provide for a variety of statutory measures to enhance the scope and quality of the emergency medical services system in New Jersey and to improve its efficiency, streamline its bureaucracy and reduce its overall system cost to patients, taxpayers and the state. The bills were introduced by Senator Joe Vitale (D-Woodbridge) and Assemblyman Herbert Conaway (D-Burlington) in early January, 2010.
On January 20, 2011, the New Jersey Assembly's Health and Human Services Committee amended A2095 and voted to move the bill to the floor of the General Assembly for a vote. The bill continues to address the issues raised by the Legislature's mandated Tri-Data EMS study and the recommendations made by the EMS Council's Task Force in the following ways:
Performance Standards - Establishes a requirement to create system performance standards, both clinical and operational, aimed at improving care to the residents and visitors of New Jersey.Minimum Level of Staffing - A minimum of one emergency medical technician (EMT) as the standard of care for every ambulance in the state. This would be a uniform standard regarding response to, and treatment and transport of, EMS patients to ensure appropriate care for all of New Jersey's citizens.
Emergency Medical Care Advisory Board (EMCAB) - It establishes, through consolidation of numerous groups, task forces and advisory boards, a governing body - the EMCAB, which will include industry leaders serving to advise the Department of Health and Senior Services on prehospital issues, medical care and the establishment of provider standards. Expert members from their field will serve without compensation.
Statewide Medical Direction - Identifies a Statewide Medical Director to function as the New Jersey’s lead physician in guiding the delivery of out-of-hospital medical care.
Licensing of all Ambulances - This will allow the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services to utilize the most up-to-date medical protocols and standards for all of our citizens. It will also help with ease of implementation to allow NJ to move forward on aggressive new medical treatments.
Statutory Authority- The EMS Task Force will gain authority to continue its great work on issues including disasters and terrorism, and to come together quickly in whatever situations our state and its citizens may face.
Presently the NJ State First Aid Council is opposing the law. This group passes itself as a advocacy group of all volunteer base EMS agencies in the Sate, it is not. There are plenty of volunteer ambulance squads that are embarrassed by the NJ State First Aid Council. Presently it is possible to operate a volunteer ambulance in NJ with no trained personnel. There are no standards for volunteer ambulances. There is no requirement that local municipalities provide EMS. There are no standards to say how long it should take an ambulance to respond. These are not rural areas of the state, in fact there are no parts of NJ that would receive a “rural” designation. Volunteer ambulances are not inspected (Career based ambulances are in addition of career based ambulances must meet staffing and equipment regulations. Basically career based ambulances are regulated, volunteers are not.

In 2006, the New Jersey Legislature directed the Commissioner of the Department of Health and Senior Services to conduct a study of the New Jersey Emergency Medical Services (EMS) System. The findings of that study indicated the State's enabling EMS legislation and subsequent regulations require comprehensive overhaul in order to allow the system, and its various components, to make necessary improvements in medical care and to function in the most optimal and cost effective manner. The study also found that such changes were needed soon to avoid a catastrophic failure of the system.
At the direction of the NJ State Department of Health and Senior Services, a diverse stakeholder group comprising of the NJ EMS Council and representatives from virtually all EMS component providers was convened. The task force was charged with providing a consensus path to implement the study's recommendations. Members of the task force included representatives of:
American College of Emergency Physicians
(NJ Chapter)
Medical Transportation Association of NJ
NJ State First Aid Council
NJ League of Municipalities
Mobile Intensive Care Unit Advisory Council
JemSTAR
Governor's EMS for Children Advisory Council
St. Barnabas Medical Center Burn Center
NJ Poison Information & Ed System
EMT Training Fund Advisory Council
NJ Trauma Council
NJ Hospital Association
NJ Office of Emergency Management (County EMS Coordinators)
Large BLS and ALS Provider (Suburban)
Legal Counsel
Communications Committee
Professional Firefighters Association of NJ (IAFF)
NJ Career Fire Chiefs Association
NJ State Police
NJ Association of Paramedic Programs
NJ Office of Highway Traffic Safety
Large BLS and ALS Provider (Urban)
NJ Office of Emergency Telecommunications
Emergency Nurses Association
NJ Dept of Health & Senior Services, NJ DHSS, Office of EMS
Individual EMS Physician
Individual Public Member
Individual Volunteer EMT
Individual Career Private EMT
Individual Paramedic
After over 8 months of meetings on the subject, the group developed detailed recomendations to change the EMS system in NJ. New legislation (S 818 and its companion bill A2095) was drafted to incorporate the recommendations and provide for a variety of statutory measures to enhance the scope and quality of the emergency medical services system in New Jersey and to improve its efficiency, streamline its bureaucracy and reduce its overall system cost to patients, taxpayers and the state. The bills were introduced by Senator Joe Vitale (D-Woodbridge) and Assemblyman Herbert Conaway (D-Burlington) in early January, 2010.
On January 20, 2011, the New Jersey Assembly's Health and Human Services Committee amended A2095 and voted to move the bill to the floor of the General Assembly for a vote. The bill continues to address the issues raised by the Legislature's mandated Tri-Data EMS study and the recommendations made by the EMS Council's Task Force in the following ways:
Performance Standards - Establishes a requirement to create system performance standards, both clinical and operational, aimed at improving care to the residents and visitors of New Jersey.Minimum Level of Staffing - A minimum of one emergency medical technician (EMT) as the standard of care for every ambulance in the state. This would be a uniform standard regarding response to, and treatment and transport of, EMS patients to ensure appropriate care for all of New Jersey's citizens.
Emergency Medical Care Advisory Board (EMCAB) - It establishes, through consolidation of numerous groups, task forces and advisory boards, a governing body - the EMCAB, which will include industry leaders serving to advise the Department of Health and Senior Services on prehospital issues, medical care and the establishment of provider standards. Expert members from their field will serve without compensation.
Statewide Medical Direction - Identifies a Statewide Medical Director to function as the New Jersey’s lead physician in guiding the delivery of out-of-hospital medical care.
Licensing of all Ambulances - This will allow the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services to utilize the most up-to-date medical protocols and standards for all of our citizens. It will also help with ease of implementation to allow NJ to move forward on aggressive new medical treatments.
Statutory Authority- The EMS Task Force will gain authority to continue its great work on issues including disasters and terrorism, and to come together quickly in whatever situations our state and its citizens may face.
Presently the NJ State First Aid Council is opposing the law. This group passes itself as a advocacy group of all volunteer base EMS agencies in the Sate, it is not. There are plenty of volunteer ambulance squads that are embarrassed by the NJ State First Aid Council. Presently it is possible to operate a volunteer ambulance in NJ with no trained personnel. There are no standards for volunteer ambulances. There is no requirement that local municipalities provide EMS. There are no standards to say how long it should take an ambulance to respond. These are not rural areas of the state, in fact there are no parts of NJ that would receive a “rural” designation. Volunteer ambulances are not inspected (Career based ambulances are in addition of career based ambulances must meet staffing and equipment regulations. Basically career based ambulances are regulated, volunteers are not.

http://www.rescueleader.com/rescue/deliveries/spop_yonkers.htm

I am a emergency manager at a large hospital in NJ.
Using hospitals as a shelter is full of issues. The historical reference would be hospitals in New Orleans during Katrina. The general public was taken in because the thought was the storm would be over in <12 hours. The all changed when the levees broken and the City was flooded. Many hospital lost power and HVAC and all the other comforts that people take for granted. Combine this with the fact these evacuees simply could not go anywhere else lead to some very "interesting" times. Unable to find food the "guests" decided to raid the pantry of the hospitals and enter other unauthorized areas. It and of itself this would have been only a major problem but the hospital still had to provide medical care, food and other services to the patients who were not evacuated as well as the staff taking care of them. Part of the Joint Commission elements of performance is that hospitals provide a means to shelter employees,their families, and possible their pets. This in light that a hospital needs staff to run it. The staff will be more inclined to support the hospital if the hospital can provide for their families. As witnessed in Katrina many people would not evacuate because provision had not been made for pets. This process is very complicated. There are 4500 employees at my hospital. If if have had two kids per family that is still 4500 kids I'm expected to shelter.
A Special Needs Shelter is an emergency facility capable of providing special medical or nursing care which does not necessitate an acute care hospital setting. Despite that fact some patient do end up at a hospital. That is very expensive. We did take in 24 patients from a nursing home that was flood but we were able to put them in their own unit because we decompressed the patient volume due to the threat of Hurricane Irene. Even then we charged the nursing home for our services. In turn the nursing home sought relief from FEMA.
Another issue we ran into is taking care of nursing home evacuees from facilities in South Jersey. many of these patients were transported without their medical records nor a list of medications. Many couldn't even tell us the name of their medication because when in a nursing home someone came at the appointed time and told them to take X, Y, and Z. Fortunately these patients were not transported directly to our hospital but when the reach the college facility they were using as a shelter (BTW had no medical services available) they were subsequently transport to the hospital because of medical issues. One patient had a history of a stroke that left him without the ability to speak, making a chance of getting even something as simple as a name a hardship.
Combine all these issues into a hospital that had a very small margin of staffing to beds, an overcrowded ED even on the best of days. Pease remember, first and foremost, hospitals is an acute care facility providing healthcare for patients. As such, the hospital's resources are already committed to those who need them most, and the hospital is not equipped to act as a shelter during a disaster.

I am a emergency manager at a large hospital in NJ.
Using hospitals as a shelter is full of issues. The historical reference would be hospitals in New Orleans during Katrina. The general public was taken in because the thought was the storm would be over in <12 hours. The all changed when the levees broken and the City was flooded. Many hospital lost power and HVAC and all the other comforts that people take for granted. Combine this with the fact these evacuees simply could not go anywhere else lead to some very "interesting" times. Unable to find food the "guests" decided to raid the pantry of the hospitals and enter other unauthorized areas. It and of itself this would have been only a major problem but the hospital still had to provide medical care, food and other services to the patients who were not evacuated as well as the staff taking care of them. Part of the Joint Commission elements of performance is that hospitals provide a means to shelter employees,their families, and possible their pets. This in light that a hospital needs staff to run it. The staff will be more inclined to support the hospital if the hospital can provide for their families. As witnessed in Katrina many people would not evacuate because provision had not been made for pets. This process is very complicated. There are 4500 employees at my hospital. If if have had two kids per family that is still 4500 kids I'm expected to shelter.
A Special Needs Shelter is an emergency facility capable of providing special medical or nursing care which does not necessitate an acute care hospital setting. Despite that fact some patient do end up at a hospital. That is very expensive. We did take in 24 patients from a nursing home that was flood but we were able to put them in their own unit because we decompressed the patient volume due to the threat of Hurricane Irene. Even then we charged the nursing home for our services. In turn the nursing home sought relief from FEMA.
Another issue we ran into is taking care of nursing home evacuees from facilities in South Jersey. many of these patients were transported without their medical records nor a list of medications. Many couldn't even tell us the name of their medication because when in a nursing home someone came at the appointed time and told them to take X, Y, and Z. Fortunately these patients were not transported directly to our hospital but when the reach the college facility they were using as a shelter (BTW had no medical services available) they were subsequently transport to the hospital because of medical issues. One patient had a history of a stroke that left him without the ability to speak, making a chance of getting even something as simple as a name a hardship.
Combine all these issues into a hospital that had a very small margin of staffing to beds, an overcrowded ED even on the best of days. Pease remember, first and foremost, hospitals is an acute care facility providing healthcare for patients. As such, the hospital's resources are already committed to those who need them most, and the hospital is not equipped to act as a shelter during a disaster.

I am a emergency manager at a large hospital in NJ.
Using hospitals as a shelter is full of issues. The historical reference would be hospitals in New Orleans during Katrina. The general public was taken in because the thought was the storm would be over in <12 hours. The all changed when the levees broken and the City was flooded. Many hospital lost power and HVAC and all the other comforts that people take for granted. Combine this with the fact these evacuees simply could not go anywhere else lead to some very "interesting" times. Unable to find food the "guests" decided to raid the pantry of the hospitals and enter other unauthorized areas. It and of itself this would have been only a major problem but the hospital still had to provide medical care, food and other services to the patients who were not evacuated as well as the staff taking care of them. Part of the Joint Commission elements of performance is that hospitals provide a means to shelter employees,their families, and possible their pets. This in light that a hospital needs staff to run it. The staff will be more inclined to support the hospital if the hospital can provide for their families. As witnessed in Katrina many people would not evacuate because provision had not been made for pets. This process is very complicated. There are 4500 employees at my hospital. If if have had two kids per family that is still 4500 kids I'm expected to shelter.
A Special Needs Shelter is an emergency facility capable of providing special medical or nursing care which does not necessitate an acute care hospital setting. Despite that fact some patient do end up at a hospital. That is very expensive. We did take in 24 patients from a nursing home that was flood but we were able to put them in their own unit because we decompressed the patient volume due to the threat of Hurricane Irene. Even then we charged the nursing home for our services. In turn the nursing home sought relief from FEMA.
Another issue we ran into is taking care of nursing home evacuees from facilities in South Jersey. many of these patients were transported without their medical records nor a list of medications. Many couldn't even tell us the name of their medication because when in a nursing home someone came at the appointed time and told them to take X, Y, and Z. Fortunately these patients were not transported directly to our hospital but when the reach the college facility they were using as a shelter (BTW had no medical services available) they were subsequently transport to the hospital because of medical issues. One patient had a history of a stroke that left him without the ability to speak, making a chance of getting even something as simple as a name a hardship.
Combine all these issues into a hospital that had a very small margin of staffing to beds, an overcrowded ED even on the best of days. Pease remember, first and foremost, hospitals is an acute care facility providing healthcare for patients. As such, the hospital's resources are already committed to those who need them most, and the hospital is not equipped to act as a shelter during a disaster.

Ignorance is bliss. A couple of years ago a civilian showed up at fire headquarters with crystallized ether. Shows it to the guy working the desk watch who doesn't realize the danger and takes the jar from the civilian and brings it up to the on duty deputy chief. The DC looks and say "WTF!" and evacuated the house and calls the local PD who in turn calls the State Police Bomb Squad, County Haz Mat, and EMS. The Bomb Squad arrives, dress up in their suits and bring the jar back down stairs and put it in the kettle and drive a couple of blocks to a vacant area and blow up the jar. Next class held was "Dangers of Crystallized Ether". You'd be surprised how much of this stuff in found on shelves in police evidence lockers and no one has a clue how dangerous it is.

Take a look at the construction of Water Tunnel 3 in NYC. That construction began in 1970 and its not projected to be finished until 2020. That's 50 years. I've grown up watching the construction project moved from the Bronx and into Manhattan. I was a under 10 when the project was along the Harlem River near the Alexander Hamilton Bridge and will be 57 when it is completed. While that is underground any other acquaduct might be above ground. It would take years in planning to even get any project off the ground.

http://blogs.bostonmagazine.com/boston_daily/2011/09/28/learning-tragedy-boston-fire-department/
Learning from Tragedy at the Boston Fire Department
On the afternoon of January 9, 2009, the brakes on Ladder Company 26 failed, and the truck ran down Parker Street in Mission Hill, cutting across Huntington Street, and crashing into a building, taking the life of Lt. Kevin Kelley and injuring the driver and several other passengers.
Following the accident, the City commissioned an outside study of the Boston Fire Department’s fleet management practices that put forward some harsh findings about the BFD and provided a clear set of recommendations. The study found that the fleet’s management was largely haphazard, as evidenced by a vicious cycle of poorly qualified mechanics who either did questionable work or were unable to properly judge work done by outside vendors, so firefighters became reluctant to report problems and get trucks serviced. A separate inquiry into the crash found multiple breakdowns in protocol — improper parts, limited testing, weak documentation.
Click on link for complete article