A major thunderstorm ripped through Atlantic County on the night of Friday, June 29th into Saturday morning causing
widespread devastation. Hurricane force winds toppled trees and electric poles making streets
impassable and creating widespread blackouts. Galloway Ambulance began recalling off duty
EMTs to staff 4 ambulances and our rehab truck during the recovery.
Galloway Ambulance began receiving calls at the Country Side Meadows Senior Community requesting immediate assistance
to residents on oxygen who had lost power to their oxygen units. Once on scene, it became
apparent the backup generator had failed and the building had to be evacuated due to the
temperature in the building reaching over 100 degrees in the summer sun. Chief Uhl activated the county
EMS Task Force and requested a strike team from Ocean County and the Monmouth County
Mass Care Bus. While the strike team mobilized; Chief Uhl, Lt. Ray Adams, Lt. Stacy Rodenas,
EMT's Tom Higgins, Ross Gordon, Steve Burrows, Dale Eggert, and Matt Letts started the
arduous task of evacuating the entire 3 story building without air conditioning, hall lights, or
elevators.
Once the Strike Team arrived, units from Beach Haven First Aid Squad, Waretown
First Aid Squad, Stafford Township EMS, Great Bay EMS,and Barnegat First Aid Squad began
assisting in the evacuation process. Residents that did not leave on their own or with loved ones
were moved into the Monmouth County Mass Care Bus and into the ambulances on scene.
Once the building was completely evacuated the convoy of 10 EMS vehicles departed to the Galloway
Township Middle School where the Galloway Twp Office of Emergency Management and Red
Cross had set up a shelter. Galloway Ambulance set up a temporary command center in a
classroom in the school and ran all EMS operations out of the school for the next three days until
power had been restored in most of the town. Galloway ambulance ran more than 60 calls during
the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday after the storm while also monitoring the shelter and
providing mutual aid assistance to our neighboring communities.
Click here to read the full story from The Press of Atlantic City.

The view from the third floor of The Health Center of Galloway.

NJEMS Task Force Bus.

As the sun goes down, GTAS stands ready to serve the citizens of Galloway from the shelter.