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Community Corner

Woodbridge Community responds generously to the Avenel house fire victims... but criticism of squad members by Tom Maras was poor taste and uncalled for.

NOTE* (This was meant to be posted under the comment section of the PATCH article about ACFAS EMT's)

To the Avenel and Woodbridge Township community, and other towns: The Avenel fire victim family is overwhelmed and grateful for all of the donations of clothing, cash, gift cards, and other household items, that people have been bringing to the First Aid Squad for them over the past several days. People have called and come from as far away as Marlboro to Bayonne.These donations have helped to provide immediate relief for the family to start over. Thank you to Jennifer Bradshaw for posting the articles to help get the word out about the donation drive. The segment on News 12 also helped the cause tremendously.

To the arm chair quarterbacks like Mr. Maras that have criticized me and ACFAS staff members, I am beyond disgusted, as Maras is way out of line, and it is despicable that he continues to bring negative publicity to our squad, and the good job our EMT's have done on this recent fire scene. I hate to have to waste time responding to Mr. Maras's wrong information and digs, but I need to set the record straight on a number of items.


First off, the quick actions of our squad EMT's which helped keep children out of harm's way, was reported to me by one of our squad Shift Lieutenant's, Anthony Cacchione, when I arrived on the scene. From his and the EMT's reports, it was a very hectic and chaotic scene, as it usually is when a family's house is engulfed in flames in front of their eyes and they are in a state of shock. There were several pets in the house, one adult family member was holding onto their dog, neighbors and family were screaming etc, you get the point. 

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As the first arriving Emergency Responders on scene, our squad EMT's Ashley Accardo and Kristen Geary, were doing their best to make sure all the family was accounted for, and find out if everyone was out of the burning house and safe, while also attempting to move them to cover inside our ambulance, and wait for the "calvary"  to arrive. But on seeing the first arriving fire engine coming down the road, one of the children bolted into the street toward the fire engine. Who knows what was was going through this young child's mind to do that, except maybe that they just saw the fire engine as "help" coming to save their house. With everything that was going on, luckily one of the EMT's saw this and ran to pull the child out of the way to safety, before getting hit. Around the same time another child realized their pet cat was still in the burning house, and bolted to go in the front door to get it, and the other EMT was able to run after this child and just barely grabbed the child by the shirt and pulled them back to safety. Now you arm chair quarterbacks can try to pick this apart all you want, but I am sure that EMT's Accardo and Geary will never forget it, nor will the children or their grateful family. 

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Our Shift Lieutenant is the one that wanted to write up a letter of commendation, to which I agree. Does that make him a drama queen, Maras? And who the heck are you or Gordo to question the degree of accolades our staff should receive? How dare you! How many lives have you saved? No need to respond, that is a rhetorical question! Well I have been around long enough to know a job well done when I hear about it, and so does the rest of the first responder community. We don't need your approval Maras!


So Mr.Maras and Gordo, please save your hollow and empty praise for our EMT's, after you HAVE tried to demean their actions. You don't get to have it both ways, after you make negative comments, and then try to back pedal. And what business do you have posting about this article which was written for our EMT's, and then trying to make it about you, Mr. Maras? It is unconscionable that you try to use this article to promote yourself!


The Patch called ACFAS looking for information on the fire, we did not call them. After relaying the incident to the reporter, she actually put the phrase in the article,"Above and Beyond", which we have no problem with at the squad. So now Mr. Maras and Gordo, maybe you want to go pick a fight with the reporter too, or go slam her? I hope you geniuses feel real proud of yourselves for turning this story into a "drama". As for Maras, he is the pot calling the kettle black. Maras is the biggest drama queen this town has ever seen, as he is the only one in the history of Woodbridge Township that I know of, who had to be put in a "time out" at a public meeting, because of all of his drama ranting!

 

And as far as Maras's comment about the Mayor heaping praise on me, since he brought it up, I will also correct that with praise for Mayor McCormac, and Councilwoman Michele Charmello, as Michele and the Mayor came to the fire scene that night to see what they could do to help the family. Michele immediately went shopping that night, to buy formula and baby items, to help the family through the night. The Mayor contacted the squad that night to ask if we would be able to make the squad building available for donations, because of the close proximity to the neighborhood where the fire took place. The first thing the next morning, the Mayor met with the family, and being the good leader that he is, immediately had his office spearhead a donation drive, coordinating it with Michele and our squad, which as I said previously has already been a big help to the family. Councilwoman Debbie Meehan also came down the next day to make donations. They have a spaghetti dinner lined up at the Knights of Columbus for the family this weekend. So yes, I would write a letter for the Mayor and Council anytime, as they are the real deal and help the community, in all times of need, unlike Mr. Maras who arm chair quarterback's and does nothing to help the community, but insults those that do. What have you done to help the family, Maras?(Rhetorical). Boy oh boy, Mr. Maras sure likes to beat his chest like a hero, but when it comes to really doing something to help the community, he's a big ZERO!


And Mr. Maras, stop taking credit for "fighting to get the squad back open"! You were only in it to fight against the Mayor and his administration, as you have shown time and time again that you never cared about ACFAS. When some of the good members who lost their jobs when the squad was closed down were rehired, the new and current leadership became aware of the depth of the misdeeds of the former leaders, that were forced to resign in order for the squad to be reopened. You were made aware of those misdeeds, but continued to defend them anyway, because of your and Johnny the Barber's political agenda. You know Mr. Maras...when you and Johnny tried to take advantage of the circumstances during the time when we were angry at the Mayor, asking me to run for council on your ticket, before I learned about the extent of the misdeeds that had taken place by the former leaders. This is old news, but you want to continue to keep bringing it up, forcing me to throw this back in your face. Or yet maybe Mr. Maras is still bitter  and continues to attack, because when he asked to be put on the new squad board, nobody wanted him on it, after seeing his antics. It is pretty clear why Mr. Maras still continues to attack. And BTW, my current position on the squad is due to the new board, nobody else, another thing Mr. Maras got wrong on his post.

 

It doesn't really matter what his reasons are, despite what he might think and all his bloviating about the squad, Mr. Maras has no fans at the ACFAS, and we all wish he would just shut up, and never mention our squad again, as he always brings negative publicity to anything he gets involved with, and gets his stories wrong all the time.

 

Also, as was stated at a previous Council meeting by me, it was with the help of the Mayor, Council, and Mr Landolfi that helped right the ship of the squad, (unlike what Mr. Maras posted) along with the new Board of Trustees under the leadership of squad President John McHale. But Mr. Maras can't admit that, because it doesn't fit into his political agenda.

 

 In case I haven't been clear Mr. Maras, we don't like you, we don't need your empty praise, we are tired of listening to your crap, and we are still busy trying to dig ourselves out of the financial hole your buddies, the former leaders left us in. We have tried to get past that sad error, but if you continue to keep bringing it up, we may just have to go into more details about what they did. Isn't it true that even after you were aware of the depth of the misdeeds by the former squad leaders, you and the Barber still continued to defend them? 

That was not supporting our squad!

Now Mr. Maras, please shut up, leave the squad alone, and stay out of ACFAS business!!  

 

Robert M. Snowfield

EMS Chief & Operations V.P.

Avenel Colonia First Aid Squad


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