Plainsboro Township Committee has appointed a volunteer group to look at whether paid emergency services workers should be trained to work as firefighters and emergency medical technicians.##M:[more]##
Appointed to the Public Safety Task Force on October 11, were Clifford Maurer, director of public safety; Deputy Mayor Neil Lewis, who is township committee liaison to emergency services; Brian Gould, president of the Plainsboro Rescue Squad; Harry Towner, rescue squad captain; Andrew Braverman, rescue squad lieutenant; Matt Wagner, chief of the Plainsboro Volunteer Fire Company; and Doug Vorp, fire company assistant chief.
Also appointed were Phil Giusto, chairman of the township Board of Fire Commissioners; Lieutenant Thomas DeSimone of the Plainsboro Police; Marge Behrens as a citizen representative; Kevin Moore as a citizen representative; and John DeLooper of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory as corporate representative.
Currently, the township employs two paid firefighters to supplement the services of the Plainsboro Volunteer Fire Company, and three paid emergency services technicians who work with the volunteer rescue squad.
Earlier this year a committee studying public safety services in the township recommended hiring personnel trained as both firefighters and emergency services technicians, and giving volunteers the option of deciding whether they want to be cross trained.
“The group will be looking at how we can better deploy individuals and whether we want future hires to be cross trained,” says Maurer. “The purpose is to look into the future and determine our needs rather than finding out at the 11th hour that there’s a problem.”
Mayor Peter Cantu has said he supports the creation of the group and that there is already a provision in the township code for the appointment of a Public Safety Task Force.
