News, Missions and Training Logs

Vertical Caver Workshop 11/13/11

2011-11-27T22:10:00.000-05:00

The NJIRT hosted a vertical skills workshop for area cavers. As before, it was hosted at the Sterling Hill Mining Museum in Ogdensburg, NJ. Photos available in the Photos section.

Technical Rope Training

2009-08-30T15:26:00.000-04:00

held 8/30 at Sterling Hill Mining Museum in Ogdensburg, NJ. We reviewed haul/lower/belay systems and litter movement.

GSAR Awareness Presentation & Exercise

2009-08-20T15:02:00.000-04:00

held 8/20 & 8/23 for Hardyston FD/PD/EMS in Stockholm, NJ. A follow-up to our January presentation to this group to expand upon initial actions for emergency services agencies to take during a search incident with an exposure to the field as a grid search task.

Technical Rope Training

2009-08-16T14:59:00.002-04:00

held 8/16 at Sterling Hill Mining Museum in Ogdensburg, NJ. We reviewed anchor systems and haul/lower/belay systems.

Technical Rope Training

2009-07-26T14:44:00.001-04:00

held 7/26 at Sterling Hill Mining Museum in Ogdensburg, NJ. We reviewed knots/hitches and anchor systems.

Hamburg Day

2009-06-27T14:42:00.000-04:00

held 6/27 in Hamburg, NJ. A community event with public outreach/education.

Maybrook, NY Search

2009-06-13T14:38:00.000-04:00

held 6/13. Team members support search efforts for female missing since December 2008.

Hopatcong Charity Hike

2009-06-06T14:30:00.000-04:00

held 6/6. Team standby at 3rd annual charity event hosted by the Hudson Farm Club in Andover, NJ.

Sparta Mountain Day

2009-05-17T14:25:00.002-04:00

held 5/17 at Ryker's Lake in Sparta, NJ. One of our regular annual public outreach/education displays at a community event.

Vertical Rope Training

2009-05-09T14:08:00.002-04:00

held 5/9 at Sterling Hill Mining Museum in Ogdensburg, NJ. A follow-up to April's training with a focus more on personal vertical rope skills.

Personal Rope Skills Refresher

2009-04-19T12:11:00.000-04:00

held 4/19 in Frankford, NJ. We reviewed knots/hitches, anchor systems, haul/lower/belay systems, and personal vertical skills.

GSAR Skills

2009-03-29T11:49:00.000-04:00

held 3/29 in Branchville, NJ. A discussion of GSAR topics (team deployment, basic command post functions and organization, various field task assignments) that ended with a quick pack check.

SARCNJ "Winter" Technical Rope Rescue Day

2009-02-21T11:11:00.000-05:00

held 2/21 & 2/22 at Hidden Valley Ski Area in Vernon, NJ.
This interagency training weekend provided members the opportunity to:
- work through a series of winter rescue skills stations such as snow/ice anchor construction and testing; snow/ice travel using crampons and snowshoes; self arrest using an ice axe; winter patient packaging systems and sled evac; and basic avalanche/avalanche search awareness.
- spend the night on the mountain in a winter bivy.
- utilize the previous day's skills to search for and rescue someone on the mountain.
Thank you to NJSAR and the NJ Ski Patrol for all their hard work!

Slippery Slope Rescue Training

2009-02-08T10:13:00.000-05:00

held 2/8 at Lode Star Park in Fredon, NJ. This was a "patient-at-the-bottom-of-a-slippery-slope" type training that included all the associated issues (access, assessment, packaging, and transport - back up the hill). We played with various footwear traction devices, reviewed patient packaging considerations in snowy/icy conditions, and refreshed on the rigging and operation of raising/lowering systems.

GSAR "Cold Weather" Training

2009-01-18T15:21:00.000-05:00

held 1/18 at Whittingham Wildlife Management Area in Fredon, NJ. We deployed our new GPS units to allow members to familiarize themselves with their operation. Two hasty teams were fielded and redirected to the patient's location. Upon meeting up, we hunkered down for a winter bivy exercise (are you carrying enough survival supplies in your winter search pack?) and rotated people's roles in a small group self evacuation back to the parking lot.

GSAR Awareness Presentation

2009-01-15T15:11:00.000-05:00

held 1/15 for Hardyston FD/PD/EMS in Stockholm, NJ. One of our search incident preplan presentations for emergency services agencies.

Team Dinner

2009-01-09T15:07:00.000-05:00

held 1/9 at Charlie Brown's in Hackettstown, NJ.

GSAR "Night Ops" Training

2008-12-06T14:49:00.000-05:00

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

2008-11-23T14:41:00.000-05:00

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

2008-11-16T14:34:00.000-05:00

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

2008-11-09T14:28:00.000-05:00

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

2008-11-02T14:26:00.000-05:00

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

Byram Charity Hike

2008-10-18T14:18:00.000-04:00

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

Wallkill River NWR Day

2008-10-04T14:09:00.000-04:00

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

2008-08-24T19:47:00.000-04:00

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

2008-08-16T19:31:00.000-04:00

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

2008-07-12T19:19:00.000-04:00

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

2008-07-04T19:28:00.000-04:00

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

Training, Tower Access and Rescue

2008-06-29T10:17:00.000-04:00

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

2008-06-13T20:45:00.000-04:00

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

2008-05-25T07:11:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-28T07:20:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-20T07:22:00.000-04:00

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

2008-03-31T07:26:00.000-04:00

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

Indoor Rock Climbing

2008-03-30T07:27:00.000-04:00

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

Map & Compass and Land Navigation

2008-03-16T07:34:00.000-04:00

held at Frankford FD and Stokes State Forest.

Winter Operations & Personal Slope Rope Skills

2008-02-17T07:36:00.000-05:00

held at Frankford FD and Harmony Ridge Campground.

First Responder Course

2008-01-29T07:37:00.000-05:00

held January 29 through March 8 at Frankford FD.

Cold Weather Operations and Wilderness Evacuation

2008-01-20T07:39:00.000-05:00

Held at Frankford FD and Stokes State Forest

Team Dinner

2008-01-11T07:40:00.000-05:00

At Charlie Browns Restaurant in Hackettstown

Archive Link For Older Entries

2008-01-01T07:41:00.000-05:00

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