Republican candidates hold press conference on issues.
By: Lea Kahn
Lawrence Township’s emergency services are in shambles, according to the Republican Township Council candidates.
It ranges from a lack of input by volunteers into the township’s emergency management plan to a neglect of the rescue squad building to the possibility that the volunteer rescue squad might be disbanded in favor of a paid ambulance service.
That’s what Robert Brackett, Colette Coolbaugh and Victor Murray claimed in a press conference Tuesday afternoon at the Lawrence Township First Aid and Rescue Squad building on Pilla Avenue.
But Greg Puliti, who currently serves as mayor and is seeking re-election on the Democratic Party ticket, refuted all of the Republican candidates’ charges as politically motivated. Mr. Puliti is a member of the Slackwood Fire Co. and also serves on the township’s Public Safety Advisory Committee.
Mr. Brackett, who is a former fire chief at the Lawrenceville Fire Co., said the volunteers have not been involved in crafting the township’s emergency operations plan, which outlines the township’s response to disasters.
Mr. Brackett said he has been a fire chief or an officer in the fire company for eight years, and neither the fire companies nor the first aid squad have been involved in the emergency operations plan.
When flooding occurred in the wake of Hurricane Floyd in 1999, it took several hours for the township to round up school buses to evacuate flood victims, he said. Then, when a "microburst" knocked down trees in the neighborhood near Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2000, it took too much time to get chainsaws and other equipment to the area.
"The whole purpose of the plan is to address the issue before it happens," Mr. Brackett said. "We have to be sure we have the resources we need. You have to involve the fire companies and the first aid squad. We need to fine-tune and improve the plan."
Mr. Brackett also was critical of the lack of drills conducted by the fire companies and the rescue squad. There are no "live" drills exercises where the volunteers practice staged disaster scenarios, he said.
Mr. Puliti said that each volunteer fire company and the rescue squad has input into the emergency operations plan. For example, each fire company creates a box alarm plan. If the Hydrocarbon Technologies Inc. building on New York Avenue were to burn, the box alarm plan submitted by the Slackwood Fire Co. details the firetrucks and equipment that would be needed, he said.
Drills are the responsibility of the Mercer County Emergency Management coordinator, Mr. Puliti said. The township does not hold "live" disaster drills because that’s the job of the county coordinator, he said. The last countywide live disaster drill occurred several years ago at the Trenton-Mercer Airport, he added.
The three volunteer fire companies do conduct training sessions at the Capt. John T. Dempster Fire Training Center, located on Lawrence Station Road in Lawrence Township, Mr. Puliti said. The volunteers learn how to extinguish oil fires and they can practice on donated railroad cars and in a concrete building.
"We follow Mercer County’s lead on emergency management," Mr. Puliti said. "I have not heard any complaints from the fire chiefs at the Public Safety Advisory Committee (regarding the issues that the Republican candidates raised)."
The PSAC meets monthly. Members include the chiefs or their representatives from the Lawrenceville, Lawrence Road and Slackwood fire companies and the Lawrence Township First Aid and Rescue Squad. It also includes three township residents who are appointed by Township Council.
Ms. Coolbaugh said there has been talk recently about "out-sourcing" the services provided by the Lawrence Township First Aid and Rescue Squad. This means the township would contract ambulance services from with a nearby hospital possibly the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton Township or the University Medical Center at Princeton, she said.
When her mother broke her hip several years ago, the Lawrence Township First Aid and Rescue Squad arrived at her home in less than five minutes, Ms. Coolbaugh said. Out-sourcing that service would likely mean the response time would more than double, she said.
It is essential to have emergency medical technicians close by and available around the clock, seven days a week, Ms. Coolbaugh said. She added that a private ambulance service would charge for its services, but the volunteer squad does not.
The township employs four paid EMTs weekdays, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. During the evening hours between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. and on weekends, the township depends on volunteer EMTs to handle the calls. The squad answers about 3,000 calls annually, said Susan Fabian, the squad’s assistant chief.
After the press conference, David Veres, the squad’s deputy chief, said it has been difficult to fill the crews on weekends with volunteers. There are not enough volunteers, he said, adding that the number of volunteers ebbs and flows with the seasons. During the summer, when college students are home, it is easier to field a crew, he said.
The three Republican candidates also criticized township officials for allowing the Lawrence Township First Aid and Rescue Squad building to fall into disrepair. The roof needs to be replaced and some of the gutters are bent, said Mr. Murray.
Ms. Fabian, who offered a tour of the building during the press conference, pointed out that the three garage doors are too short to allow for the purchase of a new ambulance. Some of the new rigs are larger than the 9- to 12-year-old rigs that the squad uses now, she said.
The building lacks a separate training room for classes, and the squad members who stay overnight must sleep in a cramped room next to the ambulance bays, Ms. Fabian said. The only thing separating the crews from the ambulance exhaust fumes is a door to the bays, she said.
Mr. Puliti also refuted assertions that the volunteer rescue squad would be disbanded and that its services would be out-sourced. The claim is "political bluster," he said.
But township officials have noticed that lately more calls have been "scratched" or missed, which means there were no volunteer EMTs available to respond, he said. In that case, an ambulance from another town is called on to respond, he said.
"We are trying to keep the group alive," Mr. Puliti said. "It takes a lot more training (to become an EMT). It is daunting to be a volunteer. (Municipal Manager William Guhl) is working on a plan right now. Bill has been in contact with the squad and they are trying to work it out not shut them down."
Township officials are aware of the conditions at the rescue squad building, Mr. Puliti said. In fact, the rescue squad has approached Township Council on two occasions to discuss renovations to the building most recently in 2001.
The township agreed to take over the building from the Lawrence Township First Aid and Rescue Squad, in exchange for making repairs and renovations, however a deal was never finalized. By law, Township Council cannot spend taxpayers’ dollars on a privately owned building.
"Before we go and make an investment (in the rescue squad building), we want to be sure the people will be there to man it," Mr. Puliti said. "It’s not all about money. It’s about manpower whether they will be there."