PHOTOS: Emergency Responders Run 'Fire Drill'

Ocean County's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and New Jersey's Regional USAR Strike Teams (RUST) worked with State Police this past weekend to bring their training up to date with the state police.

The teams, from Berkley, Brick and Toms River, ran search and rescue simulations and drills.

According to Brian Gabriel, a Fire Coordinator helping to conduct the drills, "Each team has their own set of equipment, including a $15,000 search camera." The cameras have up to 30ft extension capabilities and swivel head. The teams also carry a building stabalizer, a device created the keep a building in stable condition until search has been completed.

There were three main simulations the teams worked on.

The first was search and removal of victims of car accidents. CERT stood in to play the victims in the different senarios. Teams took precaution to remove victims safely while checking the vehicles for other hazards, such as a fuel or chemical spill.

The second, and longest, drill was conducted using the building the Toms River Fire Academy uses to practice with.

Victims were placed inside, and once the operation began they would start yelling for help from inside buildings. 

"Please help! Im trapped and I think my leg may be broken! Please hurry!" team members could be heard yelling.

Teams had to make their way into the buildings, then work towards victims removing obstacles like couches and plywood.

For the final exercise, teams had to manually move three concrete blocks, then use a skill saw and cut into a concrete slab to get to the victims.

They started by creating a hole for the camera to wedge into so they could see how many people were inside and access the situation.

Once enough CERT members were moved, they started to run their own drills.

One of the drills required the group to remove an actual slab of concrete from a victims legs and pull the person to safety.