VIDEO & PHOTOS: A suspicious chemical spill prompted a large response from authorities today. Police were called at about 11:30 AM this morning after a trailer in Industrial Park was found leaking with a chemical, officials say.
The leak prompted a response from Berkeley’s Haz-Mat Team, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, the DEP, the Detectives Bureau and the Lakewood Fire Department.
The chemical was tested and turned out to be non-hazardous. TLS-CCP
Don’t you think with Lakewood’s large industrial park, our township should have its own Hazmat unit, rather than calling them in from other townships and delaying the response time. I understand these are not everyday occurrences, but with Lakewood trying to bring in new companies to industrial park the township should have the resources to deal with potential problems.
rain or shine hot or cold day or night hurricane or blizard 24/7/365
the LFD is here for us.
Thank You LFD
how do they know it was leaking a chemical and not water?
I can remember a time when the Lakewood Fire Dept. use to be more involved in the town when they had their own Specialized Teams consisting of a Haz-Mat Team and a Rescue Team. It was a shame and a big mistake to get rid of those teams. It sure would be nice to see the town form these teams again and have a specialized emergency response team made up of our Police, Fire and EMS employees to respond to all of our hazmat, suspicous package, extrications, water related emergencies, etc…. like the other big towns have. What will happen when these emergencies are happening in other towns and there is nobody to respond, we should’nt have to worry about someone not coming to us.
It was chicken soup that got stale
The special units get cut so the township committee can say they kept our taxes from going up. It will take someone getting hurt to make some people wake up.
There is so much money in the federal, state and county governments to help fund these teams. I hear this is how the other teams stay in operation and come to life.
to #1
The Lakewood Fire Department HAD a Hazmat Team and a Rescue Team that could have been used for hazmat calls like this and rescues like the one on Brook Rd the other day but they were disbanded. The people of Lakewood always want more services but are unwilling to pay for them. The people of this town took $500,000.00 away from the fire departments budget. The people this town forced the EMS department to take a 30% paycut. The people of this town laid off cops and won’t hire new ones to replace retiree’s and our brother Ptl. Chris Matlosz was murdered. If you want services pay up. There are so many other wastes that could be eliminated before stripping the budget of those who are here to protect and help us in our time of need. How about reducing trash collections? How about condensing school bus routes? How about making the kids walk if they live within a mile of their school (public and private)? How about eliminating salaries and benefits to elected officials? This town is destined to be a city but the elected officials and the people of this town have made no preparations to accommodate this. We have substandard infrastructure due foolish and greedy shortsightedness by planners and builders. The roads, utilities and services cannot keep up. There’s a lot of things I don’t want my tax dollars to go towards but my safety and that of my family and friends is one thing I am happy to put my money towards.
Well said #8,also stop building an every empty lot. That way there won’t be a need for more services that the majority of Lakewood doesn’t want to pay for. While we are on the subject of money how about remembering our public school teachers,lets give them a raise.
Soon there won’t be any industry in the industrial park, except for all of the t ax exempt schools.
To #8;
Right, spend money on a HazMat unit, that will probably not save any lives (as you usualy there is time to get from another township), and force kids to walk a mile to school, which will cause a fair amount of pedestrian injuries and fatalities.
I understand you want to be a proud member of a HazMat unit, but you can pay for that yourself!
well said #8
I have to agree with #8 as well. We need the right people in politics and management to make the necessary changes. Do I want to see our children lives in danger by walking to school….NO, but at the same time I want to see my childrens lives being looked at by professionals in a timely fashion. Do children need to be bused to school if they live right down the road from the school in a reasonable safe distance….NO, is this not one reason of why the town spent so much money on sidewalks, there are children living in New York that walk to school in some of the worst toughest neighborhoods in the world with little to no problems. Do we need trash pick-up multiple times a week…No, there are some towns that only get picked up once a week. Do certain municipal employees need take home vehicles, especially if they don’t respond after hours….NO. #8 is correct in saying there are alot of areas to cut before our emergency services are cut. I don’t believe a town and soon to be city should have to wait 30 – 45 minutes or longer for help to arrive in any emergency, by that time lives are put in a very dangerous and critical state. We live in a world now where we need to look at the seriousness of emergency services which involves Police, Fire and EMS, the public deserves a timely response. These problems only get looked at on a serious note when it involves a politician, a politician family member or when lives are lost, the emergency services field always gets questioned what took you so long or why couldn’t you help us. It is no secret Lakewood Township has been wearing blinders for a very long time, the famous statement “It won’t happen to us” will some day come to an end and we will all be caught with our pants down. Lakewood has all of the right services and people in place now it’s time to put those services and people to proper use and place them in units that can multi task.
“force kids to walk a mile to school, which will cause a fair amount of pedestrian injuries and fatalities””
But it’s ok for them after school to walk and play in the street of town without supervision and they survive just fine.
Every responding agency can get a HazMat handbook with methods for identifying chemicals. There is a kit that is less than the size of a paperback that they can use to initially identify the substance. At NYC OEM, one guy does the test and then if need be a HazMat team will do the rest. DHS has grants for such resources. To call out all these agencies for a non-threat is simply a waste of time, effort and taxpayer’s money. There are protocols for this, procedure and process. There are probably more hazardous chemicals in your trash bin. Our water is full of fluoride, drugs and other harmful substances, is that a chemical spill or deluge. Where’s the EPA on that?
There are just so many people that can do so much. Where are the 200 new Volunteers that some loud mouth said he could get to join the fire department, they could start the new Haz-mat and Rescue teams…. just wait till you see how many hours of mandatory school has to be attended before you can even put on a Haz-mat suit. Then there is the mandated trucks and equipment needed to be able to respond to a haz-mat call or Rescue call. But keep building schools in the industrial park and you will never have a need for Haz-mat.
Except for the lunch programs….
AFAIK, and I know that my agency was issued Doxicylene as soon as the white powder was tested as Anthrax in November 2011. Remember that? We were all issued Xanax because many of us “Command and Control” personnel had to stay calm to do their job. Alot of guys wound up with PTDS anyway, retired early with a diminished pension and could not even get workmen’s comp. Many are still under medical treatment without any compensation after their COBRA ran out. Come out and honor them at any and all events commemorating 9/11. We deserve every citizen’s support. The government has abandoned us with lip service and extroardinary medical bills while they huddle in their bunkers and ivory towers. Come out and show your support for the many fallen and even more abandoned heroes who risked their lives for you, not to mention the innocent civilians and their loved ones.
“force kids to walk a mile to school, which will cause a fair amount of pedestrian injuries and fatalities.”
Yes, force them to walk to school. No, this will not cause a fair amount of pedestrian injuries and fatalities. If you open your eyes you would notice that Lakewood public schools make many of their students walk to school if they live within a mile and there is no legitimate great hazard for them to do so. As a member of emergency services in Lakewood I think I would hear about student fatalities walking to school. Yet, I see many private schools in Lakewood have buses pick up and drop off kids a block away from their schools and buses stopping at every block to drop off private school students. Meanwhile public schools in Lakewood are often seen picking up or dropping off at bulk stops where all or most of the students walked to in order to catch the bus. Busing in Lakewood cost tax payers far more then most other services, if anything should be drastically cut for wasteful spending it is busing. (In addition to many other things)
“spend money on a HazMat unit, that will probably not save any lives (as you usualy there is time to get from another township)”
I guess we won’t have to spend money on a HazMat unit because within the next 5 to 10 years Lakewood will not have an industrial park as it will be filled with schools. However, when the day comes that we have a legitimate HazMat situation we will all take comfort in waiting for Berkeley HazMat if they choose to show up as they are under no obligation to send their volunteers to handle Lakewood’s problems.
“I understand you want to be a proud member of a HazMat unit, but you can pay for that yourself!”
Truthfully I have no desire to be a member of a HazMat team as they have considerable shorter lifespans and in our case they would not even be getting compensated as they would be volunteers. The people of this town have shown over the last few years how self-centered they are and how little they care for the selfless volunteers of the Lakewood Fire Department. We no longer fight your fires and respond to your emergencies for the greater good because the greater good doesn’t care. We fight fires and respond to emergencies for the man or woman on the hose line next to us; they are the ones who can appreciate our sacrifice.
hey NYC OEM – If you are so confident that there are grants out there, share them with this group. if you are so much in the know – you would know that these grants all come down through the NJ State Police and County OEM agencies. So if you are not already a known team, you do not get any opportunity to obtain for these grants or be provided with the training.
I guess cause your OEM makes you know more, guess not