Suppose a casino-bound bus should crash along the Garden State parkway, critically injuring dozens of passengers. Or a commercial airliner should fall into the Pinelands. Or a large group of people should be overcome by smoke or burned in a fire at a public building.

How could a small community hope to respond to a major disaster?

The answer is Beachwood First Aid Squad Mass Casualty Unit One, a 19- year-old, refurbished ambulance jam packed with enough triage and first-aid supplies to handle 100 victims at a time.  

For the first time in New Jersey, a volunteer first aid squad has dedicated a vehicle solely as a mass casualty unit, said William A. Gill Jr., president of the. N.J. State First Aid Council. The squad has offered to respond with the unit to requests for aid from anywhere in the state, he said.

”I hope we never have to use (the mass casualty unit), but it’s also very good to know if we need it, it’s there,“ said Helen Marinus, a second lieutenant in the squad. She said the idea for the mass casualty unit came about after the squad obtained a 1984-model, box-type ambulance in February to replace its 1965-model ambulance. Although outmoded, the old ambulance was still serviceable. It was relegated mostly to non-emergency trips such as transporting patients to routine hospital appointments.

The ambulance came to the attention of Robert J. Resetar Jr., Ocean County emergency medical services coordinator, who asked if the squad would be willing to use it to provide triage supplies on mutual aid calls. Triage, first developed by battlefield medics, is a system of sorting casualties for medical treatment according to the seriousness of their injuries.

The Beachwood First Aid Squad covers a section of the parkway that bisects the borough, and the squad members had long been concerned about the increase in bus traffic along the parkway since the start of casino gambling in Atlantic City.

On March 16, a bus returning to Queens, N.Y., from an Atlantic City casino veered off the parkway in Beachwood, and crashed into the trees, injuring the driver and 11 passengers. No one was seriously hurt.

For the squad members, the accident solidified their decision to equip the old ambulance with comprehensive triage equipment and massive amounts of first aid supplies. The problem with setting up the new unit was how to pay for supplies. Money raised through the squad’s annual house-to-house fund drive was needed for regular operations.

Mrs. Marinus said she began by contacting businesses and service organizations in Beachwood, and through word-of-mouth many offers of help arrived. ”It’s really a community project,“ she said. Sgt. Louis Ravese, Mr Maiis, and Sgt. Bert Marinus were instrumental in developing the unit.

The county emergency medical services office assisted with planning the unit and training squad members in mass casualty triage operations. The mass casualty unit ambulance, which is not used to transport ‘patients, can carry supplies equal to the amount carried by 15 regular ambulances. Much of the triage equipment is color-coded in order to make the triage operation run as smoothly as possible. For example, five trunks, actually foot- - lockers, are color-coded according to the nature of their contents

The mass casualty unit, put into service April 1, has already responded to three major fires.

The first was the fire that destroyed the grandstand and restaurant area of Freehold Raceway on May 4th. The unit set up a triage area at that fire as precautionary measure. ”You know how many firemen were there. If, God forbid, a wall would have collapsed (on firefighters), we were prepared,“ Resetar said.

The second call was to the fire that damaged the Dutch Mill Inn bar and rooming house in Seaside Heights on May 6th. Four tenants jumped to the ground to escape the fire. They were not seriously injured.

The third call,  on May 11th, was to the fire at the Haunted Castle at Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park, Jackson Township. When the fire broke out, the Great Adventure First Aid Squad requested the mass casualty unit respond as a precaution because there were so many spectators present, Resetar said. Later that night the unit was asked to remain standing by in case it was needed to assist in removing the bodies of eight teen-agers found in the blackened ruins, he said. Ravese said the unit supplied oxygen to several firemen overcome by smoke at the Great Adventure fire.

Mrs. Marinus said the squad hopes to obtain a more comprehensive supply of burn-treatment supplies, and eventually a larger vehicle, such as a van, that would have aisle space and room for more supplies.

Resetar said he expects one or two other first aid squads in the county will also develop mass casualty units. ”By having mass casualty units located throughout the county, we don’t have to worry about straining for locating equipment,“ he said.

Another mass casualty unit was set up last year at the Naval Air Engineering Center, Lakehurst, Resetar said. Supplies stored in a garage at the base clinic can be loaded onto an ambulance if needed, he said.

Paul D. Roman, the Monmouth County emergency services coordinator, said there is no first aid squad mass casualty unit similar to Beachwood’s, in Monmouth County.

Monmouth County has a major disaster mutual aid plan that is different from Ocean County’s because of different geography and population, he said. ”A different approach, the same end result,“ he said.

The county is divided into four districts for emergency planning purposes, Roman said. Since Monmouth County is densely populated, there are many first aid squads located closely together that can respond to the scene of a major disaster, he said.

He said first aid squads in Monmouth County all have disaster kits, usually a footlocker containing first aid supplies stored in the first aid squad building, plus extra backboards, blankets and splints. The Middletown, Shrewsbury, South Aberdeen, Little Silver, Freehold, and Hazlet first aid squads have especially comprehensive disaster kits, he said.

Roman said the first aid squads in Monmouth County demonstrated during the March floods and at drills that they are prepared to handle a disaster resulting in many casualties.