 The first rig owned by the Bradley Beach First Aid Squad. |
By JOANNE L. PAPAIANNI
The Bradley Beach First Aid Squad, celebrating its 75th year, has had a front row seat at central New Jerseys major catastrophes, since being incorporated June 7, 1933.
There were only a few squads in the area, they went all over the place, said long time member Norman Wright.
Some of the more notable tragedies they were called to are the Hindenberg disaster in Lakehurst, the Morro Castle ship fire off the coast of Asbury Park, and a train accident in Woodbridge when an engine ran off the tracks into the embankment.
The squad still has a wire basket in its archives from the Morro Castle, which was used to carry people off the ship after it ran aground.
The first squad in the area was Belmar, Wright said, which was established after a hotel fire in that town.
Initially the squad was formed to aid injured firefighters, but soon expanded to benefit the entire community.
The incorporation of Bradley Beachs squad followed soon after.
To celebrate, members are hosting a dinner dance Aug. 9 at the Barclay in Belmar.
According to member Jeff Coburn, a former squad captain, the first aid squad was originally part of the boroughs Fire Department.
 Two of these historical documents, one written in German and the other in English, express gratitude to the Bradley Beach First Aid Squad for its help at the Hindenberg disaster May 6, 1937. |
Its original name was the First Aid and Ambulance Corps of Bradley Beach and its original by-laws were written on the back of a Piels Beer carton, remembered member Norman Wright.
The first chief was John Estelle.
In recent memory the squad was on call after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Coburn said Bradley Beach was one of 200 ambulances waiting at Allaire Executive Airport in Wall for the injured who were to be air lifted by helicopter down to the area.
In the end there were few survivors and the services of shore emergency personnel were not needed.
No people came, Coburn said. They were all dead.
The squad also helped out during immense flooding in Trenton and the huge Pinelands fire last year.
We were transporting people from nursing homes to other areas, he said of those two disasters.
When a plane crashed July 5 into the Shark River the Bradley Beach squad responded as part of the water rescue A.N.S.W.E.R. team.
Retired member George Moffett, who joined the squad in 1947 and put in 25 years of active service, called being on the squad a joy.
More people should reach out and do things for other people, he said. The best way to make yourself happy is to reach out and do something for somebody else.
Moffett is an inactive member but plans to attend the anniversary party.
One of the more memorable rescues Moffett recalled was a time in late September, when he was in his 30s and tried to save a drowning man.
I was living on the beach front and the horn blew. There were people on the beach and a guy in the water was in deep trouble. I threw my wallet on the beach and swam out. He was face down. I brought him back through the waves its a wonder I didnt drown and got him to the shore. The other members tried to resuscitate him, and his wife was up on the boardwalk.
It wasnt a happy ending, but it was one of the more dramatic calls I was on, he said.
Wright, who collects memorabilia from the squad, said that on March 25, 1948 the squad separated from the fire department and became the Bradley Beach First Aid Squad, with their own building at 725 Main Street.
Wright recently recalled the July 1980 Brinley Inn Fire at the inn which had been converted to a hospital for the mentally impaired.
Wright had flown with a medi-vac unit during three tours in Viet Nam, and said when he turned the corner to approach the hotel fire, memories of his time in Viet Nam flooded back.
When I saw that fire, it was napalm it brought back Viet Nam to me.
Wright said the Brinley Inn fire and a similar tragedy in Union Beach two months later lead to the stringent fire laws now mandated in New Jersey.
Wrights family has a long history with the squad.
His father Elwood, was on the boroughs fire department and was in charge of the governing body of the First Aid Squad.
Read more about your town by picking up The Coaster at your local newsstand or subscribe today.
Published every Thursday.
Congratulations guys, you are doing a good job for everybody down there. Happy 75th.