On July 21, 2016, Laureldale and Mays Landing firefighters were dispatched to milepost 47 westbound on U.S. Route 322 for a report of a motor vehicle fire. Mays Landing Chief Robert Hamilton arrived, established command and reported an overturned vehicle fully involved in a drainage ditch with about three feet of water in it. Command requested a response from the Cologne and Mays Landing Water Tender 1819. Tender 1819 arrived and stretched a preconnect and began knocking down the fire and began a search for possible victims, opening both doors of the vehicle. The New Jersey Forest Fire Service responded and assisted in winching the vehicle upright. The Atlantic County Sherriff Departments K-9 Division responded and followed a track and located a male subject in a heavily wooded area. EMS personnel packaged the man and carried him a considerable distance to where Atlanticare Medics and EMS treated him for non-life threatening injuries and transported him. The victim told police and rescuers there was a second victim but none was located. Also responding were the Hamilton Dive Team, NJSP Aviation, Hamilton EMS, Atlanticare Paramedics, Hamilton Police, and the NJDOT Emergency Response Unit.
– Fire News photo by Ken Badger
