NJ Town Bars EMS Squad from Emergencies

[WAS967 97]

http://www.emsrespon...tion=1&id=11264

NJ Town Bars EMS Squad from Emergencies

Veronica Slaght

The Star-Ledger, Eastern Express Times (Pennsylvania)

FRANKLIN TWP. -- In a move to resolve a long-simmering feud between the township's rescue squad and its fire company, township committee members voted unanimously last week to make the fire company the sole provider of emergency services in this Hunterdon County municipality.

The rescue squad - Quakertown Volunteer EMS - is no longer permitted to respond to 911 calls in the municipality.

Edited December 9, 2009 by jack10562
Source Copyright Notice

[FFLieu 70]

As a NJ-based EMT, I have some issues with this. The article cites the September incident (which I believe was also noted on here, as well) and describes the circumstances as the fire truck passing the bus in a no-passing zone and subsequently forcing the bus off the side of the road so as to avoid a head-on crash between the fire truck and an oncoming vehicle. According to Title 39 (NJ's VTL), the fire truck was wrong. Believe it or not, the only emergency vehicles that are expressly allowed to disregard the vehicle and traffic laws of the State of New Jersey are police cars. Everyone else must follow the laws, drive with due regard, and take control of right-of-way or an intersection only when other drivers cede it to them first. At no point can a bus or fire truck or POV proactively step outside the bounds of the law. If I were a police officer and I saw that specific instance, you can bet my next paycheck that the truck driver would have received a nice piece of yellow paper from me immediately thereafter. If I were the driver of the oncoming car, and if an accident would have happened, you can bet my next paycheck that I would have owned Franklin Township, plain and simple. But, I digress...

As far as the complaint that the Squad took longer to respond, well, that's typical in NJ, sad to say. Most of NJ's EMS and FD makeup is volunteer-based, so getting a rig out is an issue throughout the state. And as far as I am concerned, "too many people at an emergency" is a laughable claim. There are never too many people at an emergency. Train them properly, give everyone a job to do, and you'll be thankful at the end that you had numerous sets of hands.

My EMS squad covers two towns, one large town, and another, smaller one that the larger one surrounds. The larger town is split into two fire districts, and the smaller town has one. So, that's one EMS squad covering three fire districts. Out of the three of them, they generally work well with us save for a few hiccups that occur every so often with one of the three districts. What this instance basically comes down to is that the squad and the fire district do not work too well together. But, that doesn't give the township the right to tell the squad that they cannot respond to emergencies in the township, either. The FD is going to have the same problem with response time that the independent auditor cited, and if they accept all "interested members" from the squad, then isn't that going to fall back into the same situation as having "too many people at an emergency?" Unilaterally dissolving the squad or changing its response area is not the answer, especially since the reason why an independent auditor came into the town was because of an incident in which the FD, and not the squad, was wrong.

Taking a look at the bigger picture, the residents are the ones who lose in this situation. And in the state that has the highest property tax index in the entire country, that's a disgrace.

[Goose 188]

There are definitely times when there are two many people at an emergency scene (ie: when the buffs come out of the woodwork for a pin or something juicy) and there are other times when it's nice to have a second set of well TRAINED and EXPERIENCED hands (ie: on an arrest - but again, dumb hands can complicate things).

Sounds like Jersey has some serious issues, glad i don't live there!

[FFLieu 70]

Yeah, cuz NY is just light-years ahead of the curve, right?

[ny10570 745]

yes Lieu. We're perfect. Now stop asking questions.

[IzzyEng4 427]

CT has got you all beat....we invented the pizza and hamburger lest EMS and firefighting, just like Al Gore invented the internet!

Seriously though, thankfully in CT, though we do have a "home rule", the majority of all fire departments and ambulance corps / squads are municipal based in one way shape or form. Many towns / cities that don't have a R-1 (first responder) or R-2 (transport) service will contract out with a commercial service. Plus we do have a good state based Office of Emergency Medical Services and C-MED regions to help run things. Sometimes having that "home rule" status really causes more headaches than anything.

[Mark Z 18]

This blew my mind when I read it:

"It is illegal for a fire district to provide, directly, EMS services," he said Friday. "It doesn't matter whether they claim it's the one fire company in the district doing it, because the fire district is in charge of that fire company."

I have always been a proponent of fire based ems and do not understand how NJ can have a law like this. This situation is horrible but these kind of turf wars over who provides what usually boil down to somebody not being able to share his toys with others and cooperate. The townspeople will end up losing and we all look foolish. This situation sucks.

[medic25 0]

Seriously though, thankfully in CT, though we do have a "home rule", the majority of all fire departments and ambulance corps / squads are municipal based in one way shape or form. Many towns / cities that don't have a R-1 (first responder) or R-2 (transport) service will contract out with a commercial service. Plus we do have a good state based Office of Emergency Medical Services and C-MED regions to help run things. Sometimes having that "home rule" status really causes more headaches than anything.

Actually as a NY transplant, I've found the home rule in CT to be one of the biggest hindrances to a good EMS system here. 169 towns doing things differently with almost no regionalization, multiple PSAP's working on different frequencies, and each department wanting to operate like its own fiefdom because "that's how we do things in our town". It blew my mind that there was no county system, centralized dispatch, etc. Plus OEMS has been decimated by budget cuts, so they have a hard time accomplishing a lot of their goals in a timely manner due to staffing problems.

[FFLieu 70]

This blew my mind when I read it:

"It is illegal for a fire district to provide, directly, EMS services," he said Friday. "It doesn't matter whether they claim it's the one fire company in the district doing it, because the fire district is in charge of that fire company."

I have always been a proponent of fire based ems and do not understand how NJ can have a law like this. This situation is horrible but these kind of turf wars over who provides what usually boil down to somebody not being able to share his toys with others and cooperate. The townspeople will end up losing and we all look foolish. This situation sucks.

It comes down to the way the tax law is written. FD's can't solely provide EMS coverage because the FD is a state-mandated tax-levying institution. According to the law, which has not been updated in a good 60 or so years, towns are only mandated to provide fire and safety protective services. Basically, if you're being robbed or your house is burning down, then you're fine; if you're having an MI, then the state couldn't care less. Unfortunately, this gives way to situations like this in which the taxpayers - who usually think that EMS is provided by the town, anyway - lose.

[WAS967 97]

Actually as a NY transplant, I've found the home rule in CT to be one of the biggest hindrances to a good EMS system here. 169 towns doing things differently with almost no regionalization, multiple PSAP's working on different frequencies, and each department wanting to operate like its own fiefdom because "that's how we do things in our town". It blew my mind that there was no county system, centralized dispatch, etc. Plus OEMS has been decimated by budget cuts, so they have a hard time accomplishing a lot of their goals in a timely manner due to staffing problems.

You just described Westchester to the T. All that's left is "er" (prounounced "errrrrrrr").

Edited December 11, 2009 by WAS967