GSAR "Night Ops" Training

held 12/6 at the Whittingham Wildlife Management Area in Fredon, NJ. The world changes at night ... especially with heavy snow squalls. This was a follow-up session to November's training held in the daylight. We searched in the dark for more "clues"... found "Annie," the CPR mannequin ... and ended our training with several inches of fresh snow.

Patient Packaging Refresher

held 11/23 in Branchville, NJ. A review of basic patient packaging and medical issues with some field work moving the litter through the woods.

Red Ribbon Day

held 11/16 at Sussex Tech in Sparta, NJ. "The Sweetest Things in Life are Drug-Free!" One of our regular annual public outreach/education events.

GSAR Training

held 11/9 at Whittingham Wildlife Management Area in Fredon, NJ. We reviewed the basics of ground/grid search techniques and searched for "clues"...

Hardwick Day

held 11/2 at Camp Ralph Mason in Hardwick, NJ. A community event with public outreach/education.

Byram Charity Hike

held 10/18. Team standby at 4th annual charity event hosted by the Hudson Farm Club in Andover, NJ.

Wallkill River NWR Day

held 10/04 at the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge in Vernon, NJ. One of our regular annual public outreach/education events.

Cave Rescue Training

held 8/24. Mini-mock consisting of Command Post set-up, general organization, task assignments (commo, search, rigging, evac, demob) culminating in a rescue involving patient care, patient packaging into an OSS/Sked, and patient movement through the passageways to finally get out of the cave.

GSAR Training

held 8/16 at Tillman's Ravine in Stokes State Forest, NJ. Short bloodhound track with successful find and redirection of grid search task to perform a slope evac via crossing small stream to get patient up to trail for carry out back to parking lot.

Computer Trainings

held 7/12, 7/18. Orientation sessions to familiarize members with the team's computer/mapping software/printer set up.

FVL YMCA Educational Cave Trip Programs

held 7/4, 7/11, 7/21, 7/23, 7/25, and 8/8.

Training, Tower Access and Rescue

Training held in Sussex County. While it is unlikely that the team would be needed for a tower rescue (local resources should be available), this was a good opportunity to practice skills. Photos available in the Photos Section

Missing Hiker Stokes State Forest

Search for a missing woman who wandered away from home to go hiking.

A 58 year old woman with dementia went missing on June 11. A search was initiated under the management of the State Park Service. NJSAR was called in to assist on June 12, and the NJIRT was activated later that day. Tasks continued until approximately 01:00 on the 13th. They resumed at 08:00. She was found by a tracking bloodhound approximately 14:00.

NJIRT participated in several tasks, including hasty searches, medical support, and grid search tasks.

New York Search - Missing Child

Child missing on May 24-25, 2008. Below is a brief summary from Chief Gumbs on the incident.

The search on Sunday was called by NYSDEC to look for a missing 4 year old boy west of Monticello, NY (Sullivan Cty). Child had been playing "hide and seek" with a group when he went "missing" Saturday afternoon about 1300. He had a medium weight jacket on (it was cool on Sat) which helped him get throught the night. Several teams from NYS as well as teams from NJ responded - well over 100 people involved. The NJIRT had members tasked out with several search groups. Carl H was on the task that found the boy. Well done to all!!

We all got to see a well organized and conducted search operation done under the control of the NYSDEC rangers.

Below is a news photo of the child being reunited with his father. Photo credit: Courtesy Times Herald-Record

Rope Rescue 2

held 4/28, 5/1, 5/3, 5/4 at Fredon FD and Sterling Hill. There was a very good attendance, and congratualtions to the graduates.

SAR Council of NJ Technical Rope Skills

In what is hoped to be the first of many such events, NJIRT hosted a technical rope skills workshop for SAR Council of NJ teams. It was held at Sterling Hill Mine.

Rope Rescue 1

held 3/31, 4/3, 4/5, 4/6 at Fredon FD & Sterling Hill.

Indoor Rock Climbing

Different techniques and considerations for rope rescue held at North Summit Climbing Gym, Wind Gap, PA.

Map & Compass and Land Navigation

held at Frankford FD and Stokes State Forest.

Winter Operations & Personal Slope Rope Skills

held at Frankford FD and Harmony Ridge Campground.

First Responder Course

held January 29 through March 8 at Frankford FD.

Cold Weather Operations and Wilderness Evacuation

Held at Frankford FD and Stokes State Forest

Team Dinner

At Charlie Browns Restaurant in Hackettstown

Archive Link For Older Entries

News, Mission and Training Log Entries for 2007 and earlier are now archived and can be found by following this link:

http://www.njirt.org/newsarch.htm