​Before the event, NJEMSTF planners purposely mixed training team members so attendees worked alongside colleagues they don't usually train with, building connections that matter most when we deploy to real incidents.

The training was focused on responding to mass casualty incidents in a variety of settings. Throughout the weekend, teams practiced triage, treatment, and patient tracking; our communications capabilities in the field; what goes into the logistics behind large-scale responses and the organization’s specialty equipment; using our D4H incident management platform during a simulated assisted living facility evacuation; and hands-on experience with our Medical Ambulance Buses and Mass Care Response Vehicles.

We were honored to have Dr. Novneet Sahu, Deputy Commissioner for Public Health Services at the New Jersey Department of Health, join us Saturday along with other Department of Health staff.
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Thank you to the team at the Ocean County Fire & EMS Training Center for providing full use of its facilities for the weekend, and to our exercise planners who spent long hours designing the stimulating learning experiences.

Members of the New Jersey EMS Task Force are operating alongside EMS, fire, and law enforcement units from Ocean, Mercer, and Monmouth counties today at the evacuation of Whiting Gardens Rehabilitation and Nursing Home in Whiting, NJ.

Ocean County OEM requested the NJ EMS Task Force shortly after 6 AM Tuesday, Feb. 3. The NJ EMS Task Force dispatched four Medical Ambulance Buses to assist with the move, along with additional NJEMSTF equipment, an Incident Advance Team, and staging resources.
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The NJ EMS Task Force is funded by grants from the NJ Department of Health.

Members of the New Jersey EMS Task Force supported the Ocean County EMS Coordinators and the New Jersey Forest Fire Service earlier this week, working to fight the Jones Road wildfire in Ocean County.

The NJEMSTF was activated shortly after the fire began and partnered with the Ocean County EMS Coordinators with Incident Advance Team members, staging, planning and leadership help.

The NJEMSTF also dispatched specialty response vehicles from host agencies into the region to support the EMS branch of the attack.
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NJEMSTF leadership was on hand through late Wednesday evening.

In addition to the NJEMSTF, participating agencies included: 
AtlantiCare EMS (Atlantic)*
Barnegat First Aid Squad
Bayville EMS
Beechwood Emergency Medical Services
Brick Township EMS/Rescue*
Colts Neck FAS (Monmouth)
Evesham EMS (Burlington) 
Exceptional Medical Transport (Atlantic)
Freehold EMS (Monmouth) 
Galloway EMS (Atlantic)*
Great Bay Regional EMS
Howell First Aid (Monmouth) 
Jackson Township EMS*
Lakewood First Aid*
Lanoka Harbor EMS*
Little Silver EMS (Monmouth)
Manchester Division of Emergency Services *
Monmouth County Sheriff/EMS*
Pleasant Plains First Aid
Point Boro EMS
Point Pleasant First Aid & Rescue Squad
Robert Wood Johnson Mobile Health Services*
Shark River Hills/Neptune EMS (Monmouth)*
South Branch Emergency Services (Hunterdon) *
South Toms River EMS
Stafford Township EMS
Tri-Care Medical Transportation (Atlantic)
Toms River First Aid Squad
Toms River Police EMS
Virtua EMS (Burlington) *
Waretown First Aid Squad

* NJEMSTF Host/Sponsoring Agency

​EMS and fire officials from New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania gathered on January 16, 2025, for the first Regional EMS Task Force Preparedness Group meeting of the new year. The group discussed current EMS issues, potential threats, and preliminary plans for massive soccer events in the region over the next two years.
 
“It’s important to know the people you’ll work with,” said meeting organizer Henry Cortacans, a state planner with the New Jersey EMS Task Force. “Having this meeting is super important. This group here has the best EMS professionals in the country. We have the most experience.”
 
Some 61 professionals from the region, including the FDNY, the NJ EMS Task Force, NJ Transit, Yonkers (NY) Police Department, New York City Emergency Management, the FBI, NJSEA EMS, the Philadelphia Fire Department, and others, shared best practices and updated the group on preparedness plans in place now and what will need updating. The meeting was held at the Hudson County Office of Emergency Management in Kearny, NJ

Members of the NJ EMS Task Force planning, staging, logistics and communications teams on Saturday conducted a full inventory of each of the staging trailers housed throughout the state.

The trailers are used at pre-planned events, natural disasters and more to help coordinate the deployment of first responders and assets to those events.
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Members logged equipment, replenished supplies and identified needs for the future.