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HISTORY
Contributions from residents, businesses, and civic groups were the primary means of financing equipment purchases and associated maintenance costs. The first fundraising effort in 1941 brought in $4,200. By 1951, the original ambulance had to be replaced, and a Packard ambulance was purchased from John Sylvester for $7,345. That year, the First Aid Unit responded to 534 calls for service, and its members contributed 1,362 hours of volunteer service.
Following the tragic drowning of Township Patrolman Billie D. Ellis on Lake Carnegie in August of 1955, the Lions Club of Princeton donated a fourteen-foot boat, trailer, and water rescue/recovery equipment. A year later, 26 Princeton residents, led by H. C. Sturhahn, donated a fully-equipped Ford Stand-Up van. Dedicated on April 18, 1957, the van became the First Aid Unit’s first rescue truck.
On May 20, 1957, the First Aid Unit was renamed the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad, Inc., and became one of the first rescue units in the State of New Jersey.
In May of 1960, the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad added a custom-built Lincoln ambulance to its fleet. The vehicle, purchased from Nassau-Conover Ford and manufactured by the Ford Motor Company, was a prototype for future ambulance manufacturing. However, it was replaced in 1962 by a Cadillac because of extensive electrical problems. In August 1960, the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad was incorporated. The auxiliary helped the Squad with logistical support on protracted calls and raised money to offset operational costs.
Additional equipment acquisitions necessitated a larger facility, so in 1961, the Squad purchased land for a new building at the corner of Clearview Avenue and North Harrison Street. Contracts were signed in 1962 with the Lewis C. Bowers Construction Company, construction began. In May of 1963, the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad left Engine Company No. 1 and moved into its new headquarters. The building was dedicated on April 12, 1964, and a $75,000 Building Fund Drive was achieved.
As the population of surrounding areas grew, the Princeton squad answered calls within a 100-square mile area, covering Princeton, Kingston, Kendall Park, Plainsboro, and parts of East Windsor, West Windsor, Lawrence and Montgomery Townships. Eventually, surrounding towns established their own first aid squads.
A new $35,000 rescue truck, custom built by Swab Wagon Company, was dedicated on October 1, 1969, and replaced the 1957 Ford Stand-Up Van.
In 1970, The Squad purchased the first modular-type ambulance manufactured by Swab Wagon Company. This new ambulance design significantly increased the storage and workspace in the back of the vehicle. The improvements in patient care and rescue worker safety afforded by this design soon made it an industry standard.
In 1974, a Chevrolet Blazer four-wheel drive vehicle was added to the fleet. As the equipment inventory and number of vehicles grew to meet the increasing demand of the Princeton community, the Squad contracted with Boice-Steward Construction Company to build an addition to its headquarters. The 1974 project added a larger bay to house the rescue truck and marked the last expansion to the building.
In 1976, Pat Bodine, Antonia Bogart, and Suzanne Neilson became the first female members of the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad. In 1977, the Life Mobile Program was activated, establishing the Squad as an Advanced Life Support (ALS) provider. J. Edwin Obert, Jr., the Squad’s first volunteer paramedic, was on the first advanced life support (ALS) call in November 1977.
In March of 1980, the Squad purchased another ambulance (G. M. Wolf Modular) for $47,000, increasing the total number of ambulances to three. The limited availability of volunteer members to respond to daytime calls led to the creation of a compensated career EMT day crew on May 4, 1980. Diran Dermen and Tom Krisanda became the first full-time employees of the Squad. This municipally-funded day crew program ensured consistent ambulance coverage for the Princeton community, addressing a longstanding concern of the Squad. The program's implementation was spearheaded by Squad members (led by Mark Freda and J. Edwin Obert, Jr.), the Joint First Aid Committee (comprising Squad members, Borough and Township elected officials, and local citizens), Princeton Medical Center, and other engaged community members.
Increasing call volumes and mileage accrued by the Life Mobile necessitated its replacement in 1984 with a third modular-type G. M. ambulance, acquired from East Coast Emergency Vehicle Builders, Inc. for $52,000.
The adoption of the county-wide paid paramedic program in 1985 marked a significant shift, reducing the number of Advanced Life Support (ALS) calls received by the Squad and leading to a focus solely on Basic Life Support (BLS) care over the next two years. During this period, the Squad also met the State’s enhanced training standards by certifying its riding members as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs).
Fleet enhancements continued in 1988 with the acquisition of a $61,000 modular ambulance from P. L. Custom Body, and a new $9,000 Zodiac inflatable pontoon boat equipped with a 30HP motor, further bolstering our operational capabilities.
In 1991 the Squad replaced the Swab rescue truck with a Mack MR vehicle custom built by PL Custom Body. The new rescue truck was designed to be a self-sufficient unit carrying a command and dispatch center, equipment for vehicle extrication, confined space rescue, ice and water rescue, fire ground support, air bottle filling and a 6,000-watt light tower.
Additional changes to State protocols allowed the Squad to be trained to carry cardiac defibrillators (previously only an ALS skill). On April 29, 1993 at 2:23 in the afternoon, the Day Crew and five volunteer members responded to a call for a “possible heart attack” in Palmer Square. On that call, they became the second BLS crew in New Jersey to save a life using the new defibrillators. That patient walked out of the hospital two weeks later. Since that time, the Squad has carried defibrillators on all of its apparatus.
In 2001, Princeton University donated an American LaFrance MedicMaster ambulance built on a Freightliner truck chassis. The ambulance it replaced was converted to a Special Services unit to carry equipment for Mass Casualty Incidents, and provide personnel rehabilitation at fire scenes and other large-scale responses. That same year, the Squad replaced its water rescue craft with a Zodiac inflatable boat, 50 horsepower motor and rapid deployment trailer for $12,500. In 2002 the first response vehicle was replaced by another former police car, and a year later the Mack rescue truck was replaced with a safer, larger Pierce Enforcer Stainless Steel Rescue Truck for $430,000.
PFARS began hosting EMT-Basic training courses in 2003. New members trained through this class have found they are more quickly able to orient themselves to Squad operations and earn promotions within our system. The year 2003 marked the first time the call volume surpassed 2,000, as the Squad answered 2,113 calls for service.
In order to meet its growing operating budget, the Squad began billing patients’ insurance carriers in January 2006. At the same time, Princeton Borough and Township capped their contributions to the Squad that had defrayed the cost of paying day crews, reduced them further in 2009, and subsequently stopped contributing to Squad operations.
With a multi-year trend of call volume increasing at 10% per year, changes to the Squad Day Crew program were needed. In 2007, a third paid day crew member was added, extending the day crew schedule from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Faced with increased demands on the time of its volunteer officers to run the organization, the Squad hired a paid Director of Operations in January, 2007. The first Director of Operations is Frank Setnicky, a 30-year member of the squad. With call volumes continuing to rise, the Squad added a second day crew in July 2008, bringing to five the number of full-time EMTs.
On April 28, 2007, the Squad became the first basic life support agency in New Jersey to use a non-prescribed auto-injecting epinephrine syringe (“Epi Pen®”) to save the life of a two-year-old boy who had a severe allergic reaction to peanuts. The call took place just eight days after the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad became one of the first agencies in the state authorized to carry the devices.
In 2008, the Squad replaced two of its ambulances with new ones built on a Ford chassis by Horton Emergency Vehicles. The combined cost for the vehicles was $335,789.
Also in 2008, the Squad was named Outstanding Public EMS Agency by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, Office of Emergency Medical Services. The Squad was recognized for its extensive training program, dedicated personnel, and capabilities in emergency medical and technical rescue services.
From 2010 to 2019, the Squad witnessed numerous changes within the community that necessitated several major updates to our organization. When the Princeton Medical Center relocated out of town in May 2012, the squad experienced longer transport times, prompting adjustments to our staffing. Additionally, an increase in call volume led to the expansion of the second duty crew to 7 days a week, enhancing weekend coverage. Our annual call volume rose significantly, and in 2018, we responded to over 3,000 calls for service.
Changes to the NJ State EMT curriculum expanded the EMT scope of practice to include administering aspirin for chest pain, Narcan for opioid overdoses, and CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) masks for respiratory distress patients. The squad also acquired two LUCAS devices, mechanically operated CPR machines that provide high-quality, uninterrupted chest compressions, fostering the best possible outcomes for cardiac arrest patients.
Our fleet underwent several upgrades, including the replacement of the 4x4 Utility vehicle with a new 2011 Ford Expedition Command vehicle, and the first responder car with a new 2010 Dodge Durango. In 2013, our aging inflatable Zodiac rescue boat was replaced with a new low-draft Rescue ONE Connector Boat, equipped with a jet drive outboard engine, to aid in flood and shallow water rescues. That year, we also added a 4th ambulance to our fleet for the first time—168-4, a Horton Type 3 modular ambulance, designed with a smaller patient care area and equipped with climate control. This ambulance is stationed at the Princeton University campus, allowing for immediate response to calls by PFARS members who are students on campus. In 2015, the last of the “Medium Duty” ambulances was replaced with a new PL Custom Type 3 modular ambulance for $180,769, standardizing all four of our ambulances to the same body style.
Recognizing the growing need for emergency services, the Squad initiated plans to secure a new headquarters. Discussions about a new building began in 2004. From 2004 to 2015, several attempts to secure a location for a new building were made, but these were not successful. However, in 2016, the process to move to a new facility finally began to take shape. To support this effort, a significant fundraising campaign was launched, and the Squad's management structure was revised to meet the evolving needs of the organization. A Capital Campaign Committee composed of local residents was established to lead fundraising and community engagement efforts.
To further support these efforts, a full-time Development Coordinator was hired to work alongside the Capital Campaign Committee. In 2018, the Squad hired a full-time paid President to oversee the new building project directly. Additionally, in 2018, the first external Board of Trustees was formed to provide governance. Although the Squad had long been an established nonprofit, these changes helped to formalize our nonprofit structure. Thanks to the success of our fundraising campaign, we moved into our new state-of-the-art headquarters on December 13, 2019. The new facility features a large bay area capable of housing all the Squad's vehicles, expanded training areas, meeting rooms, offices, and individual bunk rooms.
IN LOVING MEMORY - MICHAEL KENWOOD
Emergency Medical and Rescue Technician
January 25, 1972 – August 28, 2011
Early in the morning of August 28, 2011, during the height of Hurricane Irene, Michael Kenwood responded to a call for help. The brake lights of a partially submerged vehicle were flashing, suggesting it might be occupied. As a highly skilled member of the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad, Kenwood braved the floodwaters to determine if anyone was inside. Tragically, within minutes of the rescue attempt, rising floodwaters pinned him in a stand of trees, where he drowned.
To the members of the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad, Kenwood was more than just a great EMT. He was an esteemed mentor, a compassionate caregiver, and a trusted friend who served the community and his profession with dignity, honor, and respect. Kenwood loved the Squad and was always the first to volunteer.
In his role as the Information Technology Officer, he tackled the Squad’s rapidly expanding technology needs. As the Morale Officer, he helped to make every member’s volunteer hours meaningful.
Michael’s death was a tremendous loss, especially for his immediate family, who lost a beloved husband, father, son, and brother. The members of the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad lost a devoted colleague, and the Princeton community lost a hometown hero.
Michael’s courage and selfless commitment to helping others are sure to inspire anyone seeking to improve their community through volunteer service. His memory continues to inspire the members of the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad, and we will never forget him.
The charter of the Ladies Auxiliary is to support the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad in its mission. Today, much of that support is through fund raising.
The Auxiliary started in simpler times when fire and rescue services were provided by Princeton Fire Department. In 1939 one of the three fire companies within the Princeton Fire Department, Princeton Engine Company #1, started within their Company the "Princeton Engine Company #1 First Aid Unit". Some calls, like fires, rescues and search operations, were longer and more difficult than others, and so the wives of the volunteers began to accompany their husbands on “long calls” to provide liquids and food. They also made cravats (triangular bandages used temporarily for a fracture or wound) for the responders.
Princeton Engine Company #1 First Aid Unit was formally incorporated as a separate entity (and renamed Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad) in 1957. Three years later in 1960, the Ladies Auxiliary also became a formally incorporated organization and continued to provide on-call support.
As the state’s educational and training standards became more rigorous and the population growth demanded round-the-clock response, the Squad came to rely on highly-trained volunteers and career staff members to meet service demands. In line with these changes, the Auxiliary altered its focus from support on “long calls” and bandage-making to fund raising, allowing the first aid squad to purchase medical equipment (such as defibrillators), uniforms, and amenities for the Squad building.
PFARS continues to be at the cutting edge of advancement and technology. The NJ EMT scope of practice continues to change, with the addition of blood glucose testing for diabetic and altered mental status patients, and Albuterol administration for respiratory patients. In January of 2023, the nation witnessed a medical emergency during prime-time coverage of a football game and the need to have EMS present for immediate care during sporting events became clear. As a result, the squad has expanded its coverage to include a greater partnership with Princeton University athletics, and with the local high schools by providing a staffed ambulance on site for their athletic events.
In 2021, the squad added in a 4-wheel drive UTV vehicle that is equipped with access to trails and off-road areas.
In 2020, planning started for the replacement of our 2003 rescue truck, which was no longer well suited size wise and capability wise for our needs. Equipment that did not fit on the truck had to be put in a trailer and towed to the scene by another vehicle when needed. In 2023, our custom-built Pierce Velocity truck arrived, costing $1.3 million dollars, marking it the largest vehicle cost in the squad’s history. The redesignation of the vehicle from a “Rescue” to a “Heavy Rescue” signifies the specialized equipment and training the squad’s rescue company has. This vehicle is the first and only designated Heavy Rescue Truck in Mercer County. This vehicle has been heavily featured as one of the most impressive custom made rescue trucks built; and was even featured in the 2024 Fire and Safety calendar.
The squad continues to provide 24 hour a day, 7 day a week coverage to emergency calls, with its staffing now being 14 full timers, 12 per diems and roughly 40 volunteers. As the community continues to grow, PFARS will continue to expand to meet the needs, and provide the highest level of medical care, and technical rescue services.
In the beginning…
The Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad had its beginnings in early 1938 with the formation of a first aid committee by Princeton Engine Company No.1. Chaired by John J. Golden, the committee was charged with establishing a first aid training program. The initial series of instruction, organized by Elmer Rodweller, was led by Dr. Roger Evan and began on January 11, 1939. More than 40 members of the Princeton Fire and Police Departments along with employees of the Princeton University Physical Plant were trained in first aid procedures by William Sandhoff, Joseph Herrity and Frank Piffath.
On April 29, 1939, the First Aid Unit of Princeton Engine Company No.1 was formed officially. Headquartered in the Chestnut Street firehouse, it operated out of a station wagon stocked with first aid supplies donated by Johnson & Johnson. Financial assistance was provided by the Fire Company and local residents.
In March 1940, the Princeton Engine Company No. 1 First Aid Unit was incorporated with John J. Golden serving as the first president. That July, the First Aid Unit joined the New Jersey State First Aid Council, becoming that organization’s 80th member squad. The Unit’s first ambulance, a 1941 Cadillac, was purchased the following year at a cost of $3,500. The new ambulance made its debut at the annual July 4th fireworks display at Palmer Stadium. Following the vehicle’s commissioning, First Aid Unit members began sleeping in at the firehouse to ensure the availability of prompt, 24-hour coverage for the greater Princeton area. Shortly thereafter, ambulance services that had been offered by local funeral directors (Ralph E. Kimble and Southard S. Mather) were discontinued. Those services – provided out of necessity – charged patients up to $5 for a trip to the hospital.
Declining membership through the war years prompted the First Aid Unit to open its ranks to individuals outside of Engine Company No. 1. In 1941, Albert Toto became the first non-firefighter member of the First Aid Unit. Emergency calls continued to rise and the purchase of additional equipment became necessary. By September, the First Aid Unit had responded to 30 calls, driven 400 miles, and logged 70 man-hours. The number of calls grew to 85 by November and continued to grow into the next year with the First Aid Unit responding to 279 calls and traveling 4,089 miles in 1942.