Office of Emergency Management volunteer Pete Morando was born with spina bifida. One of the most common birth defects, the condition develops when the bones of the vertebrae do not form properly around the spinal cord. He has been in a wheel chair all of his 34 years.
But Morando does not see that as a detriment to living a full and happy existence.
t’s no problem – just a way of life,” said Morando. “Since day one, I just worked around it.”OEM coordinator Vince Massaro got a taste of wheelchair living at the beginning of May when a truck rammed into his car so hard that it drove him into a back yard on Paterson Plank Road. Massaro was in between sessions for his post as court officer at Town Hall. He was five minutes from his house during a break. He fractured his tibia and had a screw put in to keep the damaged bone together. “I raced Pete [in wheelchairs], but he beat me to work. Some times he beats me here when I’m driving my car,” said Massaro.
The buddy system
Morando went through the Secaucus school system and then studied typesetting for four years at Passiac County Vo Tech in Wayne.
Morando began volunteering at the OEM because he wanted to help people. He said he had used a police scanner since 1986 to keep up with all that was going on around him. Massaro said Pete eventually worked his way into the radio room.
“That was just a hobby. This is much more than that. I wanted to know how the whole thing worked,” said Morando.
Morando runs radio tests every night at 7 p.m., weather permitting. Whenever there is any type of emergency, he is at the scene operating the radio system. He interacts with the Secaucus Police Department, Fire Department, Department of Public Works and EMS services during his work as dispatcher.
“I know everybody and everybody knows me since I’m outside a lot. Unless it’s way below zero or pouring rain – I’m out there,” Morando said.
Massaro has spent years putting together a six-inch thick operating manual for the various emergency situations that may arise, how to handle them, and what the best strategies would be. Massaro said there are 45 OEM volunteers and a Local Emergency Plan Council made up of residents from the agencies normally involved in OEM operations.
The pair have formed a tight friendship in a fully functional, self-sufficient environment.
“All this needs to be well oiled and moving like clockwork. If a state emergency is declared and it’s not in the right time frame, funding is jeopardized,” said Mayor Dennis Elwell. “This is a case where volunteerism it used to its best advantage.”
Getting connected
While Massaro has been on the job at the OEM for the last 34 years, Mordano is the rookie of the two at 11 years.
Massaro said that back in the days when the organization was known as Civil Defense, they operated out of a small room in the attic of the old Town Hall. There was one chair, a desk and a phone. Things at the small, one-floor building next to the Secaucus Public Library have changed considerably since then.
“When Dennis Elwell was a councilman back in the early ’90s, he became very interested in the OEM. When he became mayor we received his full support,” said Massaro. “[Town Administrator] Anthony Iacono has never denied any requests. He was the one responsible for all the funding.”
Massaro said the facility is a state-of-the-art office, fully equipped with a communications set so effective that the whole town’s communications can be operated from the radio room console. The one-room facility was refurbished to include to handicap bathrooms and wheel chair access to the new wing.
Residents have their very own channel, 36, where messages are broadcast 24 hours a day. News of emergencies, town functions and other public announcements can be viewed by anyone in Secaucus who has cable TV.
“This whole place can run on generators with the flip of a switch. We’re connected to the state OEM, and the phones are extensions to Town Hall,” said Massaro. “Everybody has cell phones, walkie-talkies – everything you need to coordinate traffic, equipment and any other person or thing involved in an emergency.”
They also have a mobile unit with a portable tower that can set up frequency anywhere.
“We are known as one of the finest OEMs in the county,” said Town Administrator Anthony Iacono. “And it operates on 100 percent volunteer power that can be activated at a moment’s notice. Pete is very serious about his job. It’s a great outlet for him and a great benefit to the town.”