Route 80 is one thing. The Parkway however is maddening.
Problem is traffic eastbound once get past Parsippany - I'm lucky in that
go west (toward Morristown and south)
On 9/11 most NJ ambulance/first aid squads never got into NYC, most were
held in staging areas either at GW Bridge in FT Lee or Liberty State Park
in Jersey City. Ones at LSP did triage and treated injured, much of the work
was mass Decon and washing out eyes from the dust -know many people who
were there. Had hazmat units from JC, Newark, Nutley doing doing decon.
Our ambulance responded and got as far as GW Bridge (I live only about 12
miles west of NYC). On that day heard crews on the scanner coming from as
far west as Sussex County (almost in PA for those who dont know NJ
geography). Those NJ units who did get into NYC were professional FF
from JC, Newark, Paterson (we spent 9/11 covering for Paterson - was
listening in firehouse to operations at WTC, including warnings to stay
clear of WTC 7 and of possible biological agents in area). Some volunteer
units from Bergen county covered firehouses in Bronx/Northern Manhattan
Our ambulance crew did standby the following days at WTC site - very few
crews from Jersey made it into Manhattan that day.
