Never Off Duty - Volunteers @ Work Photo by Jen

My husband, Neal, and Donna, both members of the Budd Lake First Aid & Rescue Squad (BLFARS), coming home from the New Jersey State First Aid Council convention last October, encountered an accident that had just occurred on Route 80, on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware Water Gap.

Traveling home in separate cars, Donna stopped her sedan to assist in a one-vehicle accident of a car into a median barrier on the rainy highway, and Neal pulled his truck, with emergency lights on, behind her car to assist and to block fast-moving traffic from the scene.

As Neal and Donna spoke to the occupants of the car, assessing their physical state and possible injuries, traffic came to a crawl around the scene, and backed up for miles. They would find out, later, that another accident occurred about one mile east of this collision at approximately the same time. Knowlton Township fire trucks, first aid rescue rigs and many members of both responded to both scenes, but the patients had already been assessed and calmed as much as possible by our volunteers who did have some of the equipment necessary, as Neal did have his first responder equipment bag in his truck, if needed.

Having spent the past few days at the convention, held in Split Rock Resort, PA, Donna and Neal applied techniques and experience learned in the past on calls like this, in drills at their squad headquarters, certification classes and specialty courses taken at conventions like the one they’d left only an hour before. This is real life, folks.

An annual event, the convention offers first aiders and EMTs the opportunity to take classes led by world-class instructors who speak all over the United States; some instructors have traveled as far as Germany to study EMS equipment, techniques and training, and then share it in venues such as this.

I was moved by the enormity of what I saw….and proud beyond description. Regardless of their desire to get home to their families and township duty, both of these Budd Lake members unselfishly utilized the valuable training, experience and expert care that are part of the dedication and pride volunteers display every day…because these members – as do their brothers and sisters in their service of our local squads - are never off duty.


I wrote this in October, 2009, to accompany photos I took at the scene and which I sent to the local newspaper. It was not published,, but I feel its relevance and interest – even moreso now that the squads of this community are threatened with disbanding and have already received word that there are no funds for them in the budget. More than ever, then, I want people to know that what this township’s volunteers are willing to do every single day has far outreaching benefits in other communities – where saving lives is appreciated. It would be a shame if this town did not recognize what the residents of Knowlton did that day…that the volunteers of Budd Lake First Aid & Rescue Squad, part of the Mt. Olive emergency service volunteers, respond where needed, when they are needed. The accident victims had these two ‘first responders’ to thank for their quick assessment and control of the situation on a busy day on Route 80. Did our members want thanks? No, they just wanted to do what they are trained to do – comfort those in need and save lives.

It’s what they still want to do, if their community and governing body would let them.