​On Wednesday, 3/15/23, at 0832, the Hope Volunteer Fire Department - Station 38 Fire and the Independence First Aid Squad were dispatched to Frelinghuysen for a fire alarm at a nursing home/assisted living facility. The call was upgraded to a structure fire one minute later, and Warren County Communications struck a first alarm assignment. 

BLS 73-53, Special Services 735, and Chief 735 all responded within minutes of dispatch. Due to the structure's occupancy type, Chief 735 initially requested additional BLS units from Blairstown Ambulance Corps and Allamuchy-Green First Aid Squad. Upon the arrival of Special Services 735, Deputy Chief 735 was advised of possibly 30 patients to be evaluated for possible smoke inhalation. With a large number of patients, Chief 735 requested for the Level 2 Mass Casualty Incident plan to be dispatched, adding additional BLS units from Warren, Sussex, Morris, and Monroe Counties. Atlantic Mobile Health was also contacted and initially sent 4 BLS units, 1 Critical Care Unit, and multiple Managers and Supervisors.    

Engine 38-63 and Rescue Engine 38-62 arrived and found one wing of the building filled with smoke, and staff members had already evacuated the residents of that wing. Interior crews found the source of the fire to be an attic HVAC unit which was quickly mitigated by fire units on location. 

Once EMS units determined that no patients on location required immediate care, the Level 2 MCI was reduced to a non-emergent response. Then, once it was determined that there was no need for an emergency evacuation of residences in the facility, the Level 2 MCI was canceled by Chief 735. The incident was held to BLS 73-53, BLS 46-54, Atlantic BLS 241, and Atlantic BLS 241. 

Once fire mitigated any life hazards, Chief 735 established a unified command with Atlantic Manger 602 to asses the 51 Residents of the Facility as well as 5 Staff Members. 

Warren County Department of Public Safety EMS coordinator EMAC 1 was assigned as the Medical Branch Director, Deputy Chief 735 was designated as the Triage Unit Leader, and Atlantic Assistant Manager 615 was designated as the transport unit leader. 

With the assistance of facility staff, a total of 56 total patients were systematically evaluated throughout the facility, and one patient was transported to the hospital. 

Units remained on location until the Department of Health approved the facility to reoccupy the affected faculty wing. 

All EMS units cleared the scene at 1032 hours. 

During the incident, BLS 73-52 was staffed out of our second station to cover our Primary Area. 

EMS Units on Scene:
BLS 73-53
Special Services 735
Car 735
Chief 735
Deputy Chief 735
Blairstown Ambulance Corps BLS 46-54
Allamuchy-Green First Aid Squad BLS 95-52
Warren County Department of Public Safety EMAC 1
Atlantic Mobile Health BLS 221, BLS 241, BLS 292
Atlantic Mobile Health Manager/Assistant Managers 602, 614, 615
Atlantic Mobile Health BLS Road Supervisor

Other Agencies Involved on Scene:
Hope Volunteer Fire Department - Station 38 Fire
Blairstown Hose Company #1
Green Township Fire Department
New Jersey State Police
Warren County Fire Marshall 
Warren County Health Department

Last month proved to be another busy month for the Independence First Aid Squad, with 195 requests for service. 

Here are the responses by the municipality for February 2023:
Independence Township - 28
Liberty Township - 27
Mansfield Township- 92
Allamuchy Township – 2
Belvidere- 1
Blairstown Township- 3
Frelinghuysen Township – 5 (1 Long-term Care Facilities) 
Hackettstown – 17
Hardwick Township- 1
Hope Township – 3
Knowlton Township- 3
Washington Borough – 7
Washington Township - 3
White Township- 3

The above calls are the calls the Independence First Aid Squad was requested to respond to. The primary EMS agency or a closer mutual aid agency may have canceled our response to some of the calls we were dispatched to. 

During February 2023, the First Aid Squad had 147 patient contacts and 117 patient transports.

February 2023 Response Times (All Calls):
Average Dispatch to Responding: 3.31
Average Dispatch to Scene: 12.88

In February 2023, the Independence First Aid Squad missed 5 calls in our primary area. The following EMS Agencies handled the 5 calls:
Hackettstown First Aid and Rescue Squad- 5
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We are always looking for new volunteers to join our team. For more information, visit www.73rescue.org

Last month proved to be the busiest in the history of the Independence First Aid Squad, with 218 requests for service. It was also our first month being the primary EMS agency for the Township of Mansfield.

Here are the responses by the municipality for January 2023:
Independence Township - 42
Liberty Township - 21
Mansfield Township- 111
Allamuchy Township - 2
Blairstown Township- 2
Frelinghuysen Township – 8 (6 Long-term Care Facilities) 
Hackettstown - 17
Hope Township - 2
Oxford Township - 2
Washington Borough – 6
Washington Township - 2
White Township- 5

The above calls are the calls the Independence First Aid Squad was requested to respond to. The primary EMS agency or a closer mutual aid agency may have canceled our response to some of the calls we were dispatched to. 

During January 2023, the First Aid Squad had 193 patient contacts and 130 patient transports.
Average Dispatch to Responding: 3.19
Average Dispatch to Scene: 12.2

In January 2023, the Independence First Aid Squad missed one call in our primary area. The following EMS Agencies handled the one call:
Hackettstown First Aid and Rescue Squad- 1

In January 2023, three different training classes were held for our members, and four members started their Emergency Medical Technician Initial program.  
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We are always looking for new volunteers to join our team. For more information, visit www.73rescue.org

This past weekend 8 Independence First Aid Squad members attended the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians Tactical Emergency Casualty Care course. The Warren County Department of Public Safety and the Independence First Aid Squad sponsored this joint training course. Instructors from Saint Clare's Health made the trip to the Great Meadows Middle School to instruct the class. In addition to our eight members that attended the course, 15 members of the Warren County Rescue Taskforce and other members of local Police, Fire, and EMS agencies participated in the class. 

The Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC) course teaches EMS practitioners and other prehospital providers how to respond to and care for patients in a civilian tactical environment.
The course presents the three phases of tactical care and integrates parallel EMS nomenclature:

Hot Zone/Direct Threat Care that is rendered while under attack or in adverse conditions.
Warm Zone/Indirect Threat Care that is rendered while the threat has been suppressed but may resurface at any point.
Cold Zone/Evacuation Care that is rendered while the casualty is being evacuated from the incident site. 

The 16-hour classroom course includes all new patient simulations and covers the following topics:
Hemorrhage control, including immediate action drills for tourniquet application throughout the course;
Complete coverage of the MARCH assessment;
Surgical airway control and needle decompression;
Strategies for treating wounded responders in threatening environments;
Caring for pediatric patients;
Techniques for dragging and carrying victims to safety; and
A final, mass-casualty/active shooter event simulation.

National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians TECC course is endorsed by the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, is consistent with the current guidelines established by the Committee on TECC (Co-TECC), and meets all of the updated National Tactical Emergency Medical Support Competency Domains. 

The final simulation tested the students' knowledge they learned over the two-day course in a simulated active shooter scenario with over 35 "victims." We want to give a massive shout-out to Warren County Technical School for allowing students to attend our final scenario as role players. 

We want to thank all the agencies that assisted in making the final exercise as realistic as possible. The following agencies participated in the final exercise. 
Law Enforcement: 
Independence Twp. Police
Mansfield Township Police Department
Washington Township Police Department
New Jersey State Police
Phillipsburg Police Department, NJ

EMS: 
Phillipsburg Emergency Squad
Lebanon Township Fire Department
Independence First Aid Squad

Public Safety:
Warren County Department of Public Safety FIELDCOM

Once again, we would like to thank the Great Meadows Regional School District Board of Education for allowing us to use the middle school and all of the instructors from Saint Clare's Health for putting the class on for us. 

If you are interested in taking a TECC course or your agency is interested in hosting a TECC course, you can contact Clinical Supervisor Ryan Stickle at ryanstickle@primehealthcare.com for further information. 

Ryan Newkirk and Chris Hinkle took all photos.