October was a busy month with training and exercises for the New Jersey EMS Task Force (NJEMSTF), each one designed to increase the organization’s readiness, collaboration, and coordination with agencies across the state.
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On Oct. 8, 90 highly trained members of the NJEMSTF participated in a full-scale exercise at Liberty State Park alongside our partners in law enforcement and EMS from New Jersey and New York. The exercise was a collaborative, multi-agency effort that spanned nine months to bring to fruition and was designed to test the region’s emergency preparedness ahead of next summer’s FIFA World Cup.

A day later, the NJEMSTF incident advance team participated in an Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) exercise to test the response to fictional explosions and Sarin Gas exposures at a mall in Passaic County and a Union County train station along the Morris/Essex line.

And on Oct. 14 and 15, members of the NJEMSTF, alongside McCabe Ambulance, University Hospital EMS Special Operations Group and Rescue Division, participated in the UASI Metro Urban Search and Rescue (MUSAR) full-scale exercise in Bayonne, NJ.
The simulated scenario involved a terror attack at a commuter rail station, resulting in mass casualties and structural collapse. NJEMSTF personnel integrated directly with MUSAR rescue teams, delivering on-site triage and medical care to simulated victims trapped throughout the incident area.

The multi-layered drills and training were in addition to the organization’s planning for the potential of a Nor’easter and the dispatch of NJEMSTF assets to events throughout the state, including football games at MetLife Stadium, a woodland rescue in Cedar Grove, and fires in Middletown, Newark, and Woodbridge.
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These exercises continue to test our systems, engage our members, and assure that we are ready for potential deployments, should they occur.

The scenario was horrific: midway through a concert performance by the popular group The Bascom 5 at Stockton University, a section of bleachers collapsed, injuring dozens of attendees. The good news is it wasn’t real. Planners at the New Jersey EMS Task Force dreamed up the tragic scene as the centerpiece of a full-scale exercise with the University, Atlantic County OEM, and AtlantiCare, the region’s healthcare system, to test their ability to respond to such a disaster.

The “collapse” was the focus of a three-day drill for the NJ EMS Task Force (Oct. 25-27), which included 116 team members and more than 34 specialized response vehicles, including Medical Ambulance Buses, stagging trailers, mass casualty response trucks, and special operations vehicles.

“This event is important to the team; it gives us the opportunity to work together and reinforces the need for a team like this,” said Mike Bascom, president of the NJ EMS Task Force.

The NJ EMS Task Force participated in a drill by the New Jersey Transit Police Department’s Office of Emergency Management on Saturday at NJ Transit’s Bay Head yard facility.

The drill was designed to test responses to a simulated transit incident. In addition to the NJ EMS Task Force, the event involved representatives from the New Jersey Transit Office of Emergency Management, NJ TRANSIT Rail Operations, the Bay Head Police Department, the Bay Head Fire Department, the Bay Head Office of Emergency Management, Point Pleasant First Aid Squad, Point Pleasant Borough Fire Department, the Brick Fire Department, the Mantoloking Fire Department, Point Pleasant Borough First Aid Squad, Manasquan First Aid Squad, Ocean County Sheriff’s Department OEM, Federal Railroad Administration, Lacey Township EMS, Jackson Township EMS, Beachwood EMS, Ocean County EMS Coordinators, Ocean County Fire Coordinators & Fire Marshal and the Red Cross.
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For more about the NJ EMS Task Force, visit www.njemstf.org.