Hurricane Helene“We’re doing Great! These are amazing people! They all come together!”
These are the first descriptions Middletown Second Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Morrissey said in a conversation from Asheville, North Carolina, where he and two other Middletown firemen have been working since the day before the storm as part of the New Jersey Task Force #1 Team that as deployed by FEMA for the search and rescue efforts in one of the towns most severely stricken by Hurricane Helene.
The three members of the Search & Rescue team currently in Asheville are Dan Kelly, First Assistant Chief for Middletown’s Fire department and a member of the Belford Independent Fire Company, Marcelo Aguirre, who has a medical background as a Paramedic and is a member of the Port Monmouth Fire Company, and Morrissey, who is Second Assistant Chief for Middletown and a member of Middletown Fire Company #1 .
Morrissey, Aguirre and Kelly on the Task Force #1 team have been working on search and rescue efforts for the last ten days and get their rest at a base camp some 20 minutes outside the city’s most stricken areas.
In spite of all the work that has to be done, the destruction that is all around them, and the rescue efforts which always bring joy to the workers, Morrissey said it is the togetherness of the residents most impacted by the storm that is so impressive. They are resilient, he said, “they are happy we are here and appreciate all our efforts. But they are working hard and doing everything they can to pull their lives back together.”
No doubt the Middletown trio will have many stories to tell of both happy rescues and heartbreaking sights, but now they are simply concentrating on doing the job they volunteered to do.
Their neighbors in Middletown and the surrounding area can help, he said, by coordinating their own efforts in different ways. If they can validate a contact with any of the trucks bringing supplies for the residents, food, water and necessary supplies are appreciated.
Working with the Salvation Army, FEMA or other organizations that are bringing in necessities through donations of any kind would also help, he said.
The Task Force is one of 28 such teams in the devastated area, destroyed from severe flooding which came from both the abundant of rain and the mountainous terrain which has brought torrents of water and rock down into the city.
The Task Force was deployed to the site the day before the storm to be better prepared for rescues in the first immediate danger. While scheduled to return after two weeks, it is possible they cold be extended.
“We’re well-supported, FEMA has been in doing the job, we’re doing what we can, and we are all happy to be doing it,” the volunteer said.
Mayor Tony Perry once again praised all of the Search & Rescue team members that responded to the Asheville area with their advanced technical search and rescue capabilities
The Task Force comes under the NJ State Police Office of Emergency management, and receive funding from the National Urban Search & Resuce System. The teams conform to the operational procedures developed by FEMA and the US&R System and are all part of the 70-person task force, plus ground support, comprising 19 functional elements from planning, search and rescue to medical specialists, haz-mat and canine search teams. Each of the 70 positions on the teams are staffed by three deep memberships for a total of 210 members.
