
On Wednesday evening, July 6, 2016, after more than 3 years of planning, CFARS hosted the initial roll-out training for the new Hunterdon County "Rescue Task Force" (RTF) response to an active shooter incident training. The RTF program, which has been slowly been coming into New Jersey from other parts of the Country, was organized as part of the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office Special Operations Unit. It teaches first responders, from Police, Fire and EMS, how to work together to help minimize deaths after an event like we recently saw.

Thirty representatives from State, County and Local Fire, Law Enforcement and Emergency Medical Services attended the first of five local training sessions being held over the next few weeks here in Hunterdon County; and Clinton EMS is proud to be a part of it. As Lt. Kevin Burd, Commanding Officer of the Hunterdon County SWAT team explained, "Over 3 years ago, in this very room, we brought together key stakeholders of all your agencies, plus local Education Administrators, to discuss the concepts we are finally able to start implementing here tonight".
Over a dozen CFARS members have now completed the initial part of the training, with several members having taken additional Tactical EMS training during recent weeks, at both a State and Federal level. "We are happy to partner with several other EMS agencies across the County, to provide the equipment, training and personnel to enhance our response along side Law Enforcement and in concert with Fire and other responders, when the time comes", explained Deputy Chief H. Bucky Buchanan, who also is a Team Leader with the County SWAT Team's Medical Component. "Stopping the bleeding has been shown to save lives in incidents such as this", he continued. "So much so, that FEMA recently rolled out a program called STOP THE BLEED (https://www.dhs.gov/stopthebleed) which encourages civilians to learn basic bleeding control techniques as part of their personal preparedness".
3 additional training sessions have also been held across the County, with 2 more in the coming weeks. Over 90 local responders have been trained to date, with another 60 planned. These training sessions are available to Hunterdon County Police, Fire & EMS agencies through the Hunterdon County Emergency Services Training Center. Information has been shared with all Department Chiefs and enrollment is now open.