NEWARK – Mayor Ras J. Baraka and Public Safety Director Anthony F. Ambrose announced that Newark Firefighters rescued a 77-year-old woman who had been sheltering in her vehicle, parked at 67 Lincoln Park.
“Unfortunately, this woman lives inside her vehicle and was sheltering in place during the snowstorm,” Mayor Baraka said. “When she first contacted Police yesterday, there was an error made with logging the correct address. Police officers called her back for the correct address, but received no answer,” he added. “The next time members of the Department of Public Safety heard from her was at 9:30 this morning (Feb. 4), when she contacted the Newark Fire Division. They responded immediately to render aid.”
“In light of the woman’s age and the fact that she’s a resident without an address, we combed through our records to pinpoint exactly when this incident was initially reported to us,” Director Ambrose said. “We regret that human error played a role in delaying our response to the correct address, although we attempted to call her for a correction,” he said. “I’m grateful that she reached out again today (Feb. 4) and that this incident didn’t end tragically.”
At approximately 3:30 p.m. yesterday (Feb. 3), the woman contacted Newark Police, indicating that she was unable to leave her van because it was stuck in snow. She provided an address of 67 Lincoln Park. The Public Safety Tele-communicator mistakenly logged the address as 67 Lincoln Street. When Police arrived at that address and were unable to locate the vehicle, a navy blue mini-van, they called back the number the woman called from, but received no answer.
At approximately 9:30 a.m. today (Feb. 4), the woman contacted Newark Firefighters who responded at 9:36 a.m. and located the woman inside the vehicle. Firefighters shoveled a path to her driver’s side door and freed her from the vehicle. The woman refused medical attention as well as assistance to a shelter or to a family member’s home. Firefighters further offered to shovel out her vehicle, which she also refused.
The Newark Office of Homeless Services is working to offer assistance to the woman.
