Towns: Let it snow, we're ready
Tinton Falls, Shrewsbury review emergency management plan
BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer

Many communities were overwhelmed during the Valentine's Day ice storm, but they were still able to get the job done.

A week after the storm had passed, two towns were reviewing their emergency management plan and finding that it worked pretty well.

According to Tinton Falls Councilman Brendan Tobin, all of the emergency services in the borough did a good job, but there is a need for volunteers.

"I encourage anyone and everyone in the borough to reconsider their role in emergency services," he said. "Fire, EMS and the Civilian Emergency Response Team [CERT] all need people."

He explained that there were more than 400 calls for service to the Tinton Falls Police Department over the two-day storm.

"They normally answer 800 calls in an entire month," Tobin said.

He added that every available officer was on duty. In addition, there were hundreds of calls answered by the four fire companies in town.

"Almost as many as we answer in a calendar year. Volunteer firefighters were on duty for days on end as the calls continued to pour in," he said, adding that the paid and volunteer EMS also answered countless calls for medical and other assistance.

CERT worked with the American Red Cross Jersey Coast Chapter to set up a shelter in the EMS South building, since it was the largest building with electricity that they could find. Some residents had to stay there for three days, since they had no heat.

"There were countless residents who risked their own safety to check on neighbors, clear downed trees from roads, and do everything they could to make life better during a horrible situation," Tobin said.

Tobin explained that some residents drove themselves to the shelter, others were taken to the shelter by friends and neighbors, and others called in and received help, including a 95-year-old man who is nearly blind.

He explained that the borough is reviewing the emergency preparedness process.

"The chief of police gave us an

in-depth report and a thorough and complete analysis is being done, as it is after every major event. Some question the power company's response, but I'd like those critics to tell me how to staff for an event that causes such widespread damage."

Tobin said he has heard people criticizing the response of the electric company, Jersey Central Power & Light, but he thought utility crews did a wonderful job.

"They were at work right away and when the winds picked up, it knocked down a good deal of the work they'd already repaired, so they had to leave the area for their own safety. I saw people running chain saws in my neighborhood, all along Sycamore Avenue, at 2, 3, 4 in the morning, in brutal low temperatures with harsh wind chills."

Thomas X. Seaman, Shrewsbury Borough administrator, said he, too, had heard complaints about JCP&L and that borough officials planned to meet with representatives. In the meantime, he and Mayor Emilia Siciliano had a meeting with Shrewsbury's emergency management team and discussed whether or not they need to do anything differently.

"We went over the different emergency management and Department of Public Works issues," Seaman said, adding that the police and public works departments coordinated storm response very well, but there is one issue that needs to be addressed.

"Borough hall had only partial power, so we're trying to address that. It's a generator issue," he said.

He said the borough opened the new firehouse on Route 35 as a shelter, but not many people used it and no one stayed overnight.

He added that nobody expressed a need for help in getting to the shelter, either.

As for the storm on Monday night, the school had a delayed opening, but the public works department had sanded during the night, so the roads were fine by morning, Seaman said.