Emergency crews from area head north to aid attack victims
09/12/01
By KEVIN SHEA
Staff Writer, The Trenton Times
"Let's go while we're hot," said Jim Hutchinson, a 25-year Mercer County paramedic, as he climbed into his idling ambulance with a cold can of Coke in one hand and directions to Teterboro Airport in the other.
Hutchinson was supposed to fly to Pensacola, Fla., at 1 p.m. yesterday to watch his son graduate from military diving school. But by noon yesterday, he was in the back parking lot of Capital Health System's emergency services building on Prospect Street with partner Bill Vandergrift, readying with other emergency medical crews from Mercer County preparing to convoy north to aid victims of the World Trade Center attacks.
A few minutes later, the line of ambulances put on their lights and sirens and pulled out. Their wailing sirens soon faded.
"We really have no idea what to expect," said Ted Krupnik, director of Capital Health's paramedic services, who stayed behind. "We put this together in less than an hour."
The personnel who left from Prospect Street were only a few of the many crews from Mercer, Burlington and Middlesex counties that would head north to either Teterboro Airport in Bergen County, the Meadowlands complex or Liberty State Park, all staging areas for rescuers or makeshift medical centers for victims.
Mercer County, by yesterday afternoon, had sent an ambulance or crew of personnel from every municipality, said Ralph Persico, director of emergency management. Yesterday evening, Persico said he was compiling lists of additional personnel who could be called north in the next few days.
Capital Health had sent four ambulances and 10 paramedics, five emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and seven emergency room staffers from their Fuld campus, said company spokesman George Gennaoui.
Trenton EMS sent half of their six ambulances to North Jersey and all remaining members on standby, said Director Ralph Gumbert.
The Washington Fire Department had six members in North Jersey, four EMTs who traveled with Hightstown First Aid Squad to the Meadowlands, and two on the state's Urban Search and Rescue Squad (USAR), said Lt. Dennis Symons.
The USAR team, based at Lakehurst Naval Air Station and under the command of the New Jersey State Police, train exclusively for urban disasters. Washington Fire Department firefighters Kevin Brink and Jason Palmer, Trenton firefighters Capt. Walter Fell, William Tharp and Chris Smith, and Lawrence police officer Michael Yeh were on the first USAR team dispatched, officials said.
In Burlington County, 20 ambulances departed the county's public safety complex in Westampton about 4:45 p.m. on their way to the Meadowlands, said county spokesman Dave Wyche.
"It was impressive," said Wyche.
Captain Joe Herzberg of Bordentown Township Fire District 2 said five firefighters who are emergency medical technicians were going from the fire district, taking cots and equipment, food and drinks for 36 hours.
"My wife's not happy. None of the guys' families are happy. But they understand we're going to help our brothers and sisters up there and civilians who need us," he said.
The county also sent 50 to 60 EMS workers and mental health counselors to assist in the disaster.
By 3 p.m., Middlesex County county had sent 42 ambulances and 20 fire trucks and 70 police officers were scheduled to leave for New York at 7 last night, said emergency management spokesman Rob Sklans.
The American Red Cross of Central Jersey, which has an office in West Windsor, sprang into action early yesterday, sending two emergency response vehicles to New York to assist at the scene.
By yesterday evening, Red Cross spokesman Dave Novak said the chapter's volunteers and staffers were on the scene in North Jersey doing several tasks, from counseling rescuers, to helping dazed commuters get to their homes in New Jersey.
Red Cross volunteers were also assisting North Jersey schools, he said.
"This is very sad, but there are children whose parents are not going to pick them up today," Novak said.