First responders in Iselin, South Plainfield to be honored for Hurricane Ida flood rescues
MIDDLESEX COUNTY — During the heavy nighttime rain from the Sept. 1, 2021 remnants of Hurricane Ida, Iselin Fire District 11 Chief Ryan Malheiro focused on the small child's hand in the four feet of flood water on Carson Drive as soon as the ladder truck's lights shone.
Malheiro went out about 30 to 40 feet to grab the unresponsive child.
"When I jumped out of the truck I didn't even think — I just kept going because I was listening to him (the child's father), but when the light turned, that's when I saw her to the right and I started going. Everything was quick," he said.
After getting the young girl out of the water, Maheiro was about to start CPR when all the water rushed out of the child. The child's father came running over and although Malheiro instructed him to wait for emergency medical personnel to arrive, he ran to the car and took his daughter to the hospital to be checked out.
"I have three kids so I know the deal. You do anything for your kids," said Malheiro, adding that as a firefighter he'd do anything to help someone, but especially a child.
Around the same time South Plainfield Deputy Fire Chief Lawrence DelNegro, who has served with the volunteer department for 37 years, and South Plainfield Police Officer Brian Zielinski, a 10 year veteran of the force, were rescuing a mother and her two children after their car became submerged in a waterlogged ditch.
"There was water, lots of water," Zielinski said. "It was a busy night to say the least. We had unprecedented flooding for our town, we are known to flood from time to time but not like that. I believe we got 9 inches of rain in a couple of hours time period."
"Everything came up quick," DelNegro said, adding that during Hurricane Sandy there was a lot of water, but this time it came up so fast. "No one was prepared for the roadway to be flooded that fast. It was just so much rain, so fast, it had no place to go."
Durham Avenue had a foot of water on the roadway. One vehicle apparently tried to turn around and then floated off the roadway into a ditch off the side of the road, which doesn't normally have water, but had about four or five feet of water.
The two first responders were able to safely rescue the two children in the vehicle, and the mother in chest-deep water.
On May 18 Malheiro, DelNegro and Zielinski will be among 134 emergency responders to be recognized by the 200 Club of Middlesex County during a 10:30 a.m. ceremony at the Carteret Performing Arts Center, 46 Washington St., Carteret. Sayreville Police Chief John Zebrowski, president of the New Jersey State Chiefs of Police Association, will be the guest of honor.
Malheiro, DelNegro and Zielinski are among several emergency responders receiving valor awards for heroic acts in 2019, 2020 and 2021. The 200 Club of Middlesex County raises awareness and builds support for public safety officials who put their lives in harm's way to ensure a safer society.
READ: 'Gun, gun, gun!': Clinton Township police officers among 24 first responders to be honored
"I've never received a valor award so it's the first time," said Malheiro who due to a prior commitment will not be able to attend the event. "I'm happy, but it's what I love to do. I love doing what I do. I love helping."
He said Assistant Chief Joe Francisquini, who served as chief last year and nominated Malheiro for the award, will attend. Francisquini previously received a valor award for pulling an Iselin firefighter out of a collapsed building, Malheiro said.
DelNegro, who is also receiving a 2019 meritorious award, said he doesn't mind the accolades and the recognition but there were so many people over the 12 to 24 hour time period during Hurricane Ida that helped in so many different ways.
"We did what we had to do, but there is a lot of other people that did too," said DelNegro adding the fire department had two boats in waterways in different areas removing people from flooded cars, homes and roadways. "It's nice to be recognized but a lot of good people did good work that night. Any person in the fire department, any person in the police department would have done the same thing in the same situation. Everyone did a stellar job."
"It was really a community that came together," said Zielinski, who is also receiving a second valor award for rescuing a man trapped by Hurricane Ida flood waters. "There were even bystanders helping other bystanders. It was just one of those situations where you had to jump in and do something. We had a job to do and just did it."
Also receiving awards for 2021 are:
South Amboy First Aid member James T. Ryan for 64 years of service from 1958-2022.
South Amboy Police Detective David Keegan is receiving a valor award and Capt. Joseph Matarangolo, Sergeants Steve Clark and Michael Kelly and Officers Marvin Deausen and Christopher Norek are receiving meritorious awards for their efforts dealing with an armed suicidal person on April 21, 2021.
Middlesex County Sheriff's Office Lt. Christopher Neder is receiving a community award for his work doing COVID test security in 2020.
Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Detectives Lauren Tredo and Daniel Lojek are receiving meritorious awards for their internet investigation involving the abuse of a minor in December 2021.
Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Sgt. Deon McCall, Detective Mark Morris and Assistant Prosecutor Scott LaMountain and Sayreville Police Capt. Jack Fitzsimmons and Sgt. Daniel Ellymer are receiving meritorious awards for solving the 1999 Nancy Noga murder case.
South River Sgt. Edward Dumas and Officers Chris Flores and Sean Sullivan are receiving meritorious awards for their work Oct. 18, 2021 dealing with a suicidal person armed with a knife.
Edison Detectives James Navas and Matthew Eitel, Officers Avsar Patel and Michael Goldfarb along with Metuchen Police Lt. Robert Belluscio, Corporal Christopher Fiore, Sgt. Kenneth Bauer and Officers Michael Puetz and Nicholas Zirpoli are receiving valor award and resident Anthony Lombardi a community award for assisting police on Dec. 21, 2021 in the recovery of a weapon following an assault.
Edison Firefighters Alan Fields and John Conner are receiving meritorious service awards for helping a woman trapped in a fire on March 18, 2021.
South Plainfield Detectives Christopher Blath and Peter Hlavka and Officers Brian Zielinski, Michael Alvarez and Stephen Petriello are receiving valor awards for rescuing a young man trapped in Hurricane Ida flood waters on Sept. 1, 2021.
Perth Amboy Police Lt. Joseph Sulikowski and Officers Jorge Inoa and Alan Peguero are receiving valor awards for evacuating residents from a burning Grace Street building, including a disabled resident, without regard for their safety or proper protective equipment on Oct. 15, 2021.
Hurricane Ida hits Woodbridge
On Sept. 1, 2021 when remnants of Hurricane Ida hit New Jersey, Iselin Fire District 11 Chief Ryan Malheiro remembers it being hectic with calls about water rescues, downed wires, cars broken down, cars under water and other calls for assistance.
He was on New Dover Road, with all the district's rigs tied up, engines on Routes 27 and Oak Tree Road, and a rescue truck out on Wood Avenue.
"It was non stop. There was an overabundance of calls," Malheiro, a 12 year veteran of the fire department recalls. "We were getting hammered out there. Everything was clogged and backed up."
Then another call came in about multiple cars under water on Carson Drive. On New Dover Road is a small bridge where swift water was going right through where he was helping everyone get out of their cars. The only way to get to Carson Drive is to cross the bridge on New Dover Road.
"We had to go full force and we got some water in our truck, but we went right through and we got to Carson and that's when I saw multiple people getting out of their cars, then I heard one guy screaming he was looking for his child," Malheiro said.
Malheiro had called out to dispatch to have police conduct a search and to block off the water clogged street.
Malheiro said he looked at his lieutenant, an officer on the ladder truck, and told the driver to loop around the block to turn on the vehicle's lights to illuminate the area in the 8:30 p.m. darkness.
"Once they turned the corner the headlights hit the water and I saw a hand go up, like a little finger, and that's when I went for her," said Malheiro about the child, about 4 or 5 years old who had gotten swooped out of the vehicle.
Malheiro, whose fire district in Woodbridge Township covers from Route 27 to Wood Avenue to New Dover Road down half of Amherst Avenue to the Colonia section as well as the Garden State Parkway, said there is always a possibility of more storms like Ida, but his department focuses on training to be ready.
"Safety is number one. We are always going to make sure we take care of ourselves because if we don't how are we going to be able to assist someone else. Training and being on the look out, having a safety officer, having someone there to look around to make sure everyone is OK and safe is major. Because when it gets hectic and you get storms like that you never know what's coming," said Malheiro who recalls a previous hurricane in which while tying up a loose wire to a pole, a shed came flying past.
Hurricane Ida floods South Plainfield
Durham Avenue in South Plainfield is in a southern business section of the borough and as the road on the night Sept. 1, 2021 went from 2 inches to water to 8 inches of water during the storm, Deputy Fire Chief Lawrence DelNegro said efforts were underway to get the road blocked off to prevent drivers from entering. Police had set up barriers on one side.
"The police department was stretched super thin, the fire department was stretched super thin so we are running back and forth trying to secure and while we were securing one side the person started to drive through the flood waters on the opposite side and at some point realized it wasn't good and she floated off the roadway or turned into what looked like a place to make a U-turn," DelNegro said.
In that exact same spot about 20 minutes earlier a box truck had already fallen into the ditch but the water wasn't as deep at that point. That driver was able to open his door and jump onto the grass because there was only about a foot of water, he said.
"Now we go back and see the car there," said DelNegro, adding the car wasn't there 10 minutes earlier.
"There were so many cars getting trapped in the water," said Zielinski, adding police had received many 911 calls and were trying to determine which vehicle had the mother and children.
"That's when we noticed it was in that 5 foot ditch with the nose down," said DelNegro.
Police learned the mother was coming back from Target with her two elementary school age children after buying school supplies and didn't know which way to go after getting detoured in the dark.
Both DelNegro and Zielinski began to remove some of their heavy gear and entered the water where DelNegro, who was in water up to his chest, grabbed onto the woman's car which was floating while Zielinski began to unbuckle the first child from a car seat.
DelNegro said the mother was secured because the doors and windows were closed, but if they opened the doors the car would flood. The mother was able to roll down the back window and Zielinski was able to grab the first child and hand them off to another officer as the water starting pouring in and then come back to grab the second child while DelNegro held onto the vehicle to prevent it from submerging into deeper water.
DelNegro said they were then able to get the mother out and walk her to higher ground, and police later transported the family to a local hotel because there was no way for them to safely get home with the flooding.
"That night every turn was a wrong turn," said DelNegro, adding that even with some of the department's big apparatus there wasn't access to some areas of town.
Later that night Zielinski and other borough police officers were able to grab a person who fell into a fast running stream on Stelton Road.
Zielinski said there is a drainage basin or stream on Stelton Road where a man fell in but did not survive. And later a young man about 19 or 20, who worked at a nearby fast food restaurant was walking toward the area where his mother was slated to meet him to drive him home when he stepped over a bank and into the stream and went through a drainage pipe under Stelton Road where he was able to cling to a branch.
"We were looking for the first gentleman where his girlfriend was still on scene pointing us in the right direction and just happened upon him (the young man) and threw the life vest and rope out to him and pull him up," Zielinski said.
"With emergency workers we don't even think about it. You do what you know has to be done regardless of what the consequences are. But the chance in that specific stream with the water running and funneling into that one area, that was fast and anyone could have easily gotten taken away," DelNegro said.
The 2019 honorees are:
Edison Police Capt. Frank Todd and Detectives Leslie Yackel, Scot Sofield and Peter Vereb are receiving valor awards for a Jan. 22, 2019 fire rescue.
Edison Detective Sgt. Steven Todd and Detectives Michael Wilson, Dominic DiCarlo, and Nicholas Puccio are receiving meritorious awards for their work on multiple May 3, 2019 burglaries.
Edison Police Sgt. Loren Long, Detective Sgt. Wilfredo Brown and Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Detective David Abromaitis are receiving meritorious awards for their work on a May 26, 2019 homicide robbery.
Edison Sgt. Loren long and Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Detective Michael Connelly are receiving meritorious awards for their work on a June 28, 2019 homicide shooting.
Edison Police Lieutenants Thomas Duffy, Matthew Bekiarian, Det. Sgt. Christopher Teleposky and Officers Jonathan Kole and Alan Esposito are receiving valor awards for their work during a Sept. 26, 2019 armed suspect shooting.
Edison Det. Sgt. Christopher Teleposky is receiving a meritorious awards for his work involving a terrorist threat on Oct. 23, 2019.
South Plainfield Officer William Bori and Deputy Fire Chief Larry DelNegro, Fire Capt. Kevin Bulla and Firefighters Bill Conti, John Calvey, Mike Pellegrino, Joseph Abbruzzese and Justus Philibet are receiving meritorious awards for helping a man trapped on Aug. 19, 2019.
Dunellen Police Sgt. Brian Robbins is receiving a meritorious award for helping a man who was not breathing on April 28, 2019.
Perth Amboy Battalion Fire Chief Carlos Gonzales, Fire Capt. Eric Kayser and Firefighters Melvin Inoa, Phillip Sulikowski, Patrick McGhee and James Garrison are receiving meritorious award for their Oct. 12, 2019 rescue.
Sayreville Police Sgt. Angela Moat, Officers Keith Grausam, Joseph Bartlinski, George Lestuk, Dispatcher Brian Tierney and EMT's Anthony Olson and Eugene Johnson are receiving meritorious awards for helping a man trapped on July 21, 2019.
New Jersey State Police Detective Michael Silvestre is receiving a meritorious award in connection with an Aug. 19, 2019 armed robbery.
New Jersey State Troopers Jason Ficke and Michael Russell are receiving meritorious awards for conducting CPR in the roadway of a motor vehicle accident on July 2, 2019.
Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Detective David Abromaitis, DNA Analysis Frank Nasile and Plainsboro Detective Tim Mahon are receiving meritorious awards for their work on June 10, 2019 Carolyn Byington murder investigation.
The 2020 honorees are:
Sayreville Police Sgt. Sean McGrath and Officers George Lestuck Sr., George Lestuck Jr, Thomas Pizzillo, Jennifer Braun and Kevin Cebulski are receiving meritorious awards for their work in an aggravated assault with an armed suspect on Aug. 22, 2020.
New Brunswick Sgt. John Yurkovic and Officers Michael Kerwin and Matthew Riepenhoff are receiving valor awards for rescuing a suicidal person on April 7, 2020.
New Brunswick Officers James Perotti and Harrison Tejada are receiving meritorious awards for a July 4, 2020 suicide prevention.
New Brunswick Sergeants Anthony Abode and Dominick Calogero and Officers Michael Kerwin, William Krapf, Josue Plaza, Daniel Labos, Carlos Gomez, Daniel Faller and Guiseppi Fatula are receiving valor awards for their work in a Delafield Street shooting in which two men were killed and seven others injured on Sept. 13, 2020.
Woodbridge Police Sgt. Carlos Villelgas and Officers Nicholas Iacovou, John Janowski, Stephen Kuzma, Thomas Zaremba are receiving valor awards and Officer James Farese a meritorious award for an incident involving an armed suspect and family rescue on March 7, 2020.
Woodbridge Officer Robert Ptaszynski is receiving a valor award and Officers Samantha Siana and Daniel Baldassano are receiving meritorious awards for their work at an incident involving a life threat with an ice pick on June 23, 2020.
Woodbridge Sgt. Greg Strzepek, Detectives Paul Geoffrey, Nicole Hubner and Perry Penna and Officers Michael Tapia, Michael Mason, Mario Aochoa and Cory Oberberger are receiving meritorious award for an Oct. 26, 2020 psychological incident with a knife.
East Brunswick Officers Ryan Hensperger and Robert Thuring are receiving valor awards for their June 21, 2020 suicide rescue.
Perth Amboy Officer Raymond Arce is receiving a community award for a March 27, 2020 fatal motor vehicle accident fundraiser.
Dunellen Police Sgt. Brian Robbins and Officers Patrick Barry and Rosofsky are receiving meritorious awards for a Feb. 28, 2020 suicide rescue.
New Jersey State Trooper U.A. Boyd and Staff Sgt. R. W. Kaufman are receiving valor awards for an Oct. 27, 2020 suicide rescue.
Email: srussell@gannettnj.com
Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: First responders in Iselin, S. Plainfield to be honored for Ida rescues
