North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Frank Montagne, who heads the NHRFR’s new Rescue Unit, said that he was planning to have an extensive session involving trench rescue training months in advance of last week’s scheduled four-day seminar.
“With everything going on in the NHRFR, we planned this for a long time,” Montagne said. “There were so many factors involved in organizing the training session.”
NJ Transit stepped in and gave the NHRFR the site of the former trailer park on 48th Street and Tonnelle Avenue to use for the training. NJ Transit purchased the property a year ago and it will eventually become part of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system.
“NJ Transit was very cooperative,” Montagne said. “They gave us the land to use and a classroom. They told us that they would dig the hole and fill the hole. It was a big help.”
The four-day session was set for the middle of June. However, Montagne had no idea that his unit would be put to the test before the official training would begin.
Two weeks ago, the NHRFR’s new Rescue Unit was influential in helping to save the life of a gravedigger who was in a grave when the walls around him collapsed, sending tons of soil and concrete headstones falling atop him.
West New York resident Manuel Pierrot was nearly buried alive in the Machpelah Cemetery in North Bergen, but was rescued with only a few broken bones, thanks to the efforts of the Rescue Unit, which used the same rescue method they were scheduled to be trained on a week later.
“Maybe I’m clairvoyant,” Montagne said. “It’s unbelievable how that turned out. We knew for months that the training session was going to happen and one week before, we have to perform the rescue without the training. It was incredible.”
Even though much of the 20-member unit already had hands-on practical rescue training the week before, Montagne decided it was essential to continue with the four-day course held last week.
The training included the use of a 20-foot long, 10-foot deep and three-foot wide trench on the site. The unit members secured and stabilized the trench and conduct a mock rescue on a dummy lodged in the trench.
The course offers morning instruction in trailer classrooms on site followed by applied training with new tools and equipment in the afternoons. The 15-unit members and five officers who completed the training will receive National Fire Protection Association certification in the trench rescue technique.
“It was very man-power intense,” Montagne said. “There was a lot of operational and technical training. We learned a lot of things. I think the training went well. Even though we had some experience the week before, there are always things we can do better.”
The Rescue Unit has been evolving since October 2000, when the NHRFR officials and administration saw the need to have the unit in place for similar emergency situations. Since Montagne was tabbed to head the unit, the members have been assigned and are receiving training. A new Rescue Unit apparatus was purchased and officially put into duty last week as well.
“Everything has been moving ahead, so this training session was just another step in the process to secure the Rescue Unit,” Montagne said.
Montagne said that the Lowe’s Home Improvement Center in North Bergen came through in a huge way, donating more than $2,500 in tools for the unit to use.
“That was a big donation,” Montagne said. “The hand tools will go a long way to helping this unit operate.”
The unit will not be limited to trench rescue. It will also handle scenarios surrounding confined space, surface water, vehicle extraction, industrial heavy lifting, and building collapse rescues.
“But having the trench rescue training is essential, especially with all the construction being done with the Light Rail, with workers 180 feet down,” Montagne said. “We have to be ready.”