Police, Fire, EMS Stand Up to Irene

As the power went out and the flooding began late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, only the rain and wind of Irene could be heard. The storm was ferocious, but Scotch Plains and Fanwood's police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and emergency management coordinators stood in its way. For the past 72 hours, they have been hard at work helping restore the township and borough.

Although live wires continued to force the closure of certain roads Wednesday morning (the wires can only be repaired by PSE&G, not public works employees), members of all the local emergency response teams agreed that the damage could have been much worse.

“Fortunately, the town got the message,” said Capt. Tom Kranz, who spent nine hours at the squad’s headquarters with two other EMTs, covering the overnight shift from Saturday to Sunday. “People stayed inside and no one got hurt.” 

The squad’s first call came shortly before 7 a.m. Sunday when two trees fell onto a home on Cray Terrace. The residents, two women, were unharmed, but they were evacuated as a precaution. The squad transported the women, one of whom was more than 100 years old, to a friend’s house, where they stayed the night.

“The most remarkable thing I witnessed was the willingness of our volunteers to step up and devote many hours to help our town by staffing our building, securing bedding and food for our members and potential evacuees, and giving their time and energy when they had their own issues to contend with including power outages, downed trees and flooding in their homes,” Kranz said.

The received two calls during the height of the storm, Capt. Dan Sullivan said. 

“It was a little interesting operating in the hurricane,” he stated. But extensive preparation ultimately helped prevent any storm-related injuries or deaths. “The reality is, it could be a lot worse."

Dan Piccola, a dispatcher for the Union County Police Department, which handles dispatching for Fanwood’s emergency services, and a volunteer firefighter on the with his father, John, and two brothers, Kristopher and Brian, said Hurricane Irene prompted one of the largest emergency responses he has ever witnessed.

The 911 calls began pouring in at 11:30 p.m. Saturday night, Piccola said, and they did not stop until 9 p.m. Sunday. The most dangerous call came from Fanwood, where a tree on Marian Avenue hit a house, knocking live wires and two transformers onto Martine Avenue. The wires sparked a fire and trapped a marked police cruiser. It took PSE&G about an hour to arrive on scene, but ultimately no one was injured.

“All in all I think everyone did their part to a T and helped each other out,” Piccola said.  “It was a crazy night, but we stayed calm and did what we had to do.”

Local firefighters, police officers and dispatchers put in massive shifts. Firefighters were out on the road for more than 24 hours straight Saturday and Sunday, blocking streets, responding to felled trees and wires, shutting off electricity and gas for homes with flooded basements and, in Scotch Plains, pumping the water from those basements.

FEMA Coordinator Paul Malool said the last time Scotch Plains was affected by a natural disaster of this magnitude was when Hurricane Floyd struck in 1999. With Irene, the emergency response proved outstanding, he stated.

“The hardest thing for us was to get through the streets,” he said. “It could have been a lot worse… People seemed to work very good with one another. From a Scotch Plains perspective we are very lucky.” Scotch Plains TV and online information sources, he added, such as the township website, the Fanwood Borough website and Patch, helped spread information that ultimately assisted with the response and recovery.

Scotch Plains and Fanwood emergency workers, public works employees, and administrators are working feverishly to restore order before Labor Day Weekend. Scotch Plains, for one, is hosting the annual St. Bart’s Italian Festival, which starts Friday night. As of Tuesday afternoon, fewer than 300 Fanwood homes were without power, down from a high of 1,600, Mayor Colleen Mahr said. In Scotch Plains, about 1,500 homes did not have electricity.

“We are trying to do things in a timely manner,” Marion said. “We want to make sure people are safe.”