Emergency units from Monroe and Jamesburg were involved in helping victims of Tuesday’s attack on the World Trade Center.
By: Al Wicklund
Emergency units from Monroe and Jamesburg were involved in helping victims of Tuesday’s attack on the World Trade Center.
"Nine borough patrolmen 75 percent of our police force worked in New York City Tuesday," Jamesburg Borough Council President G. Sam Cline said Wednesday night.
Mayor Tony LaMantia said the Jamesburg policemen were at "ground zero" in downtown Manhattan assisting with rescue efforts.
Mr. Cline said all of the patrolmen volunteered to go, but the borough needed some to cover the town.
"The chief and officers with the rank of captain and lieutenant pitched and helped with coverage," Mr. Cline said.
Both the Monroe Township and Jamesburg Borough first aid squads helped with the injured. Jamesburg worked while stationed at the emergency medical center set up at the Meadowlands, while Monroe had two ambulances and four medical technicians at Liberty State Park in Jersey City.
Judy Olbrys, director of the Monroe ambulance service, said the township personnel worked with doctors in triage, the separation of patients into groups based on the severity of their injuries, in the Meadowlands staging area.
"They went up at 11 a.m. and weren’t back until 1:30 or 2 a.m. the next day. There was a lot of work and a large number of ambulances there," she said.
For one of the Monroe people, Mario Batista, this was the second experience at the World Trade Center.
"I was working at Jersey City Medical Center in 1993 when a bomb in a vehicle exploded in the center’s garage. They called into the city for that one," Mr. Batista said
Mr. Batista and Eric Kessner, another Monroe technician, worked at the command center where Mr. Batista assigned and routed ambulances.
Mr. Kessner said they dealt with the "walking wounded."
"Ferries brought patients across the river to Liberty State Park where there were two triage sections. There were about 500 ambulances there. We had plenty of help," he said.
Mr. Batista said they arrived at Jersey City at about 11:30 a.m. where his old boss spotted him and put the Monroe team to work at the command center.
"We finished about 12:15 to 12:30 a.m.," he said.

