How are New Jersey fire departments affected by Superstorm Sandy fairing? Did their well-laid preplans help their response efforts? And did communications systems perform given the devastating hurricane conditions? To find out, FIRE CHIEF spoke with Rich Kosmoski, president of the New Jersey Volunteer Fire Chiefs Association.
Kosmoski’s home station in Sayreville south of Staten Island was hard hit by Sandy. The Sayreville Fire Department is an all volunteer fire department comprised of four stations with approximately 100 members. The fire department protects approximately 45,000 residents in an area of 17 square miles and responds to approximately 900 requests for service annually.
In this podcast, Kosmoski discusses:
- How Sayreville citizens are coping with the disaster and preparing for another hit from a nor’easter
- Ways citizens were evacuated from their flooding homes
- Why residents who failed to evacuate in a timely matter posed a risk to firefighters’ lives
- How communication systems performed during Superstorm Sandy
- What operations are ongoing to help a community without power
- Lessons learned about preparing for the storm
Related Links:
- Superstorm Sandy Crashes Into Jersey Shore
- Superstorm Sandy Reminds Departments About the Importance of Dependent Care
- How FEMA Applied its Lessons Learned to Sandy
- Will Superstorm Sandy Help Fire Departments Secure Funding?
Will Superstorm Sandy lead to increased funding for search-and-rescue equipment used by fire departments? Tell us what you think by answering FireChief.com's monthly poll.
