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Police & Fire
'All We Heard Was Screaming': Off-Duty Officers, EMT Rescue 3 Victims From Turnpike Crash 'All We Heard Was Screaming': Off-Duty Officers, EMT Rescue 3 Victims From Turnpike Crash
'All We Heard Was Screaming': Off-Duty Officers, EMT Rescue 3 Victims From Turnpike Crash An off-duty police officer, two corrections officers and an EMT rescued three victims trapped inside of an SUV that overturned on the NJ Turnpike Sunday afternoon in Newark. NJ Corrections Officer and Wood-Ridge firefighter Dan O'Beirne was riding his motorcycle on the northbound side of the highway when he noticed the crash near Newark Airport around 3:30 p.m. Driving in his personal vehicle behind him was Wood-Ridge Officer Mark Torsiello, who had Rutherford volunteer EMT Walter Rogers with him. Behind them was NJ Corrections Officer Chris Araujo. "We saw Danny suddenly switch …

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Injured Boy Rescued At Ridgewood Pool Injured Boy Rescued At Ridgewood Pool
Injured Boy Rescued At Ridgewood Pool UPDATE: An 8-year-old boy was hospitalized after being injured during opening day of Ridgewood's Graydon Pool. The boy was conscious but initially couldn't move, immediately raising fears of a spinal injury, after he either fell or jumped from a platform and hit his neck shortly before 6 p.m., witnesses said. Lifeguards, two firefighters who were at the pool and other first responders got to him quickly and worked together to stabilize the boy and bring him into a waiting ambulance. His condition didn't appear as severe as first thought, the relieved responders said. Rescuers work toge…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
HEROES: Off-Duty EMTs, Officer Coincidentally Dining At Same Rahway Restaurant Save Choking Man HEROES: Off-Duty EMTs, Officer Coincidentally Dining At Same Rahway Restaurant Save Choking Man
Heroes: Off-Duty EMTs, Officer Coincidentally Dining At Same Rahway Restaurant Save Choking Man A group of off-duty EMTs and an off-duty police officer who all happened to be eating at the same Rahway restaurant sprung into action to save a man choking on his food Monday night. The six medics and the officer were dining at The Waiting Room in Rahway, when the man began choking on a piece of steak around 9:30 p.m. Elizabeth EMT Amber Henderson, 27, was the first to notice. "I happened to look over and saw a woman standing up and hitting a man on the back," she told Daily Voice. Henderson stood up slowly to see if the man was able to get the food out, but noticed very quickly that wa…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Community Shaken As Young Moonachie Firefighter, Port Authority Tunnel And Bridge Agent Dies Community Shaken As Young Moonachie Firefighter, Port Authority Tunnel And Bridge Agent Dies
Community Shaken As Young Moonachie Firefighter, Port Authority Tunnel And Bridge Agent Dies Shock mixed with sadness and grief as news spread of the unexpected death of a young Bergen County first responder. Christopher Kucan, 24, of Wood-Ridge, worked as a tunnel and bridge agent with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey at the Lincoln Tunnel. He was also an EMT with the Moonachie First Aid and Rescue Squad. "We are all at a complete loss for words," a Port Authority co-worker and fellow member of the fire service said. Those in both aspects of Kucan's life called him still young with great potential, one who had a heart of gold and "would drop everything to help a fri…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
NJ Dad Charged With Attempted Murder Of 2-Year-Old Daughter At Motel NJ Dad Charged With Attempted Murder Of 2-Year-Old Daughter At Motel
NJ Dad Charged With Attempted Murder Of 2-Year-Old Daughter At Motel A New Jersey dad has been charged with first degree attempted murder after surveillance tapes caught him putting his 2-year-old daughter in a plastic bag and carrying her through a New Jersey motel, authorities said. North Plainfield police responded to a Route 22 motel on reports of a baby inside of a bag around 12:40 p.m. on Jan. 23, Somerset County Prosecutor Michael H. Robertson said. There, they found a man later identified as Lamar S. Waller -- the girl's dad -- holding his child, Robertson said alongside Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Chief of County Detectives John W.…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Union County Firefighters Help Woman Deliver Election Day Baby Girl At Linden Home Union County Firefighters Help Woman Deliver Election Day Baby Girl At Linden Home
Union County Firefighters Help Woman Deliver Election Day Baby Girl At Linden Home Firefighters in Union County jumped to action to help deliver a baby girl after a local woman went into labor at her home on Election Day morning. Linden firefighters rushed to a 4th Avenue home and found the woman lying in bed with the baby crowning, Fire Chief William Hasko Jr. said on Facebook. Additional first responders arrived “within seconds” after determining that the birth was “imminent,” Hasko said. Firefighters used an OB Kit to help the woman give birth to baby Deborah, who was born at 7:12 a.m. weighing 6 pounds and 10 ounces and measuring 20 inches long. “The professional, r…

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by Valerie Musson
News
Community Rallies For Sussex Widow Who Lost Husband To Heart Attack In Line Of Duty Community Rallies For Sussex Widow Who Lost Husband To Heart Attack In Line Of Duty
Community Rallies For Sussex Widow Who Lost Husband To Heart Attack In Line Of Duty The Sussex and Warren communities are rallying for a local woman whose husband died of a heart attack in the line of duty after her workmen’s compensation claim was delayed due to COVID-19. Andover first responder E. Scott Danielson — who served as Director of Communications and 9-1-1 Warren County Department of Public Safety — died of a heart attack at age 49 while responding to a car accident involving his then-19-year-old daughter in Byram Township on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016, NJHerald reported. “The last interaction I had with my son before his passing was me closing his eyes and promisi…

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by Valerie Musson
Police & Fire
Covering Faces Instead Of Windshields: Parking-Enforcement Tool Maker Helps Allendale Police Covering Faces Instead Of Windshields: Parking-Enforcement Tool Maker Helps Allendale Police
Covering Faces Instead Of Windshields: Parking-Enforcement Tool Maker Helps Allendale Police A company that makes a parking-enforcement gadget has added a new tool to help police and other first responders amid the coronavirus pandemic. Barnacle Parking made its name with a 6-square-foot block of yellow plastic that police can splay across a windshield to keep drivers with outstanding tickets from moving their cars – a less expensive alternative than towing.The company retooled one of its plants and is now also covering faces as well as windshields.Allendale police received a shipment of shields -- and just in time, Chief George Scherb said. "The few shields the officers had to us…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Hip-Hopping NJ Firefighter Channels Wu-Tang Clan: COVID-19 'Ain’t Nuthin’ To Be Stuck With' Hip-Hopping NJ Firefighter Channels Wu-Tang Clan: COVID-19 'Ain’t Nuthin’ To Be Stuck With'
Hip-Hopping NJ Firefighter Channels Wu-Tang Clan: Covid-19 'Ain’t Nuthin’ To Be Stuck With' WATCH: A New Jersey firefighter has tapped into classic hip-hoppers Wu-Tang Clan for a video warning that COVID-19 “ain’t nuthin’ to be stuck with.” Some listeners will instantly get the play on words from a classic 1992 Wu cut in the “#CovidCalls” video dropped Wednesday by Michael Sarno, who’s also an EMT and Afghanistan combat veteran. Jump cuts of responders in action mix with Sarno posting up at the Belleville and Bloomfield firehouses: “The Wuhan virus ain’t nuthin’ to be stuck with/There’s no place to hide when we step inside the room/Boys in blue, prepare for this doom and damn/We’…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Thunderbirds, Blue Angels Take Flight Over NJ (PHOTOS, VIDEOS) Thunderbirds, Blue Angels Take Flight Over NJ (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)
Thunderbirds, Blue Angels Take Flight Over NJ (Photos, Videos) A formation of U.S. Navy Blue Angels and U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds flew over New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut to salute first responders on the coronavirus frontlines Tuesday. The New York flyover began at the George Washington around noon and last for 40 minutes. The path was across all five New York City boroughs, Newark, Long Island, White Plains, NY and Stamford, CT. The Trenton and Philadelphia flyover began at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakenhurst at approximately 1:45 p.m. The path was over Trenton, a large part of the metro Philadelphia area and ended over Wilmingto…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Expect Mental Health Crisis For First Responders On Coronavirus Frontlines, NJ Physician Says Expect Mental Health Crisis For First Responders On Coronavirus Frontlines, NJ Physician Says
Expect Mental Health Crisis For First Responders On Coronavirus Frontlines, NJ Physician Says The COVID-19 crisis is putting first responders at a dangerously high risk for a variety of mental health problems, psychiatric experts say. And according to Daniel Finch -- Vice President of Population Health Strategies and Director of Psychiatric Urgent Care Services of CarePlus NJ -- the worst is yet to come. “Right now, it’s all about ‘survival mode,'" said Finch, who spent nearly eight years as an emergency psychiatry doctor at Hackensack University Medical Center.  "The adrenaline is flowing. Full energy and concentration is being put toward the care of patients. “Onc…

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by Valerie Musson
News
Urgent Care Center In Passaic County Offers COVID-19 Testing Urgent Care Center In Passaic County Offers COVID-19 Testing
Urgent Care Center In Passaic County Offers Covid-19 Testing Kinder Pediatric Urgent Care has begun conducting coronavirus tests for children, families, healthcare workers and first responders, among others, at their centers in Totowa and Union, the company announced Wednesday. Although Kinder is a walk-in urgent care provider for children, COVID-19 has changed priorities for everyone on the front lines. “How can we focus on just the children and ignore COVID-19 screening and testing for their families, caregivers, or essential workers in their communities?” asked Dr. Figen Altunkaya, a senior Kinder physician. All COVID-19 testing is done by appoin…

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by Jerry DeMarco