Nanuet Fire District
Pearl River Fire District
Moleston Fire District
Suffern Fire Department
1998
Chiefs of Pearl River FD, Nanuet FD and members of the County's Technical Rescue Training Program met with the purpose of forming a Technical Rescue Team in Rockland County.
The Nanuet / Pearl River Fire District's Technical Rescue Team was formed in February of 1998.
Several man hours were put in by the founding members in forming SOPs and forming a consensus of the direction this team would take.
Training in essentials was commenced with approximately 60 members completing the four required classes to start hands on training.
The Team continued training for rope rescue, confined space rescue, trench collapse rescue and medium structural collapse rescue.
Approximately 40 members completed the initial training to get to the Teams "operations" level requirement.
The Team was activated for the first time on October 4, 1998 for a mountain rescue in the Thiells area. 8/12TRT assisted NYPD Aviation with the packaging and removal of an injured hiker that had fallen. The victim was successfully transferred to Stat Flight and transported to Westchester Medical Center.
Training continued throughout 1998. Approximately 30 members attained the "Technician" level of training
1999
In January of 1999 the Team announced that it was available for service in the Rockland County area.
Training continued with members receiving hundreds of hours of training with the Team and by seeking training from other sources such as the New York State Fire Academy at Camp Smith.
2000
The Team made its first Mutual Aid Deployment to the Town of Lagrange, New York on June 12, 2000 to assist with the search and recovery of a body in a fast moving creek, and waterfall area.
In July of 2000 members of the Moleston Fire District, otherwise known as the Hillcrest Fire Department were brought on to the team.
The Team decided that it would now be known as the Rockland Regional Technical Rescue Team RRTRT.
Training continued by all team members with approximately 8 members of the Moleston Fire District making the "Operations" or "Technician" levels of training.
2001
In 2001 the Team was activated several times to different areas of the Palisades Park System in New York and New Jersey.
The Team was activated on September 11, 2001. The Team was ready to respond in 2 hours and stood by at Pearl River. The Team was advised to stand down in the evening of September 11, 2001 and was not deployed.
Meeting were held with Administrators from the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control to discuss the feasibility of forming a second State Team in the Rockland County / Hudson Valley area.
2002
In January of 2002 members of the Suffern Village Fire Department joined the team. These members consisted of the bulk of the instructors that trained the team over the last 4 years.
In spring 2002 it was decided that the Team would open up its membership to the Volunteer Fire Fighting Community of Rockland. Application were developed and distributed to Chiefs at the Rockland County Fire Chiefs Association.
In the Summer of 2002 Team members made contact with a group of Fire Fighters from Westchester that are in the process of forming the Westchester Regional Technical Rescue Team. Both Teams have met and trained together over the last several months.
In August of 2002 it was decided that the Team would open its membership to the Volunteer EMS Community of Rockland County. A meeting is planned to start this process.
The Team currently has approximately 40 members available to respond to requests for assistance and deployments. The Team has amassed several thousands of dollars in rescue equipment and thousands of hours of training due to the foresight and generosity of the involved Fire Districts and the Rockland County Office of Emergency Services.
To learn more about the RRTRT, Click Here
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