{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://frelinghuysen.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=2&itemid=1537", "Frelinghuysen Delivers for Local First Responders", "2017-11-22", "2017", "2017-11", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Rodney Frelinghuysen", "F000372", "frelinghuysen.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Frelinghuysen Delivers for Local First Responders  MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY -\u00a0 Northern New Jersey\u2019s first responders have been receiving\u00a0 important new training tools thanks to the advocacy of U.S. Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ-11).\u00a0 Since October of 2016, Frelinghuysen has been working with local fire departments and county training academies on creating a pilot program to enhance automobile extrication training \u2013 a skill used nearly every day on the roads of New Jersey.  \u201cAuto accident scenes are chaotic and very dangerous and first responders must be very proficient in extricating injured victims.\u00a0 To make their training as credible as possible, they need real vehicles for their drills,\u201d said Frelinghuysen.\u00a0 \u201cWe jumped on the opportunity to contact Volkswagen, which agreed to donate cars.\u00a0 This is proving to be a solid partnership.\u201d  Volkswagen has diesel vehicles in the inventory of the \u201cbuy back\u201d program they established in 2015 to take the cars off the road due to faulty emissions testing systems.\u00a0  \u201cI want to commend the Mountain Lakes Fire Department which came up with the idea to reutilize vehicles.\u00a0 I also want to thank Volkswagen for working for months with our office to get this program off the ground,\u201d said Frelinghuysen.\u00a0  Mountain Lakes received three cars in September and trained with these cars multiple times over the last month, most recently on Tuesday, November 21.\u00a0 Brookside Engine Company (Mendham) has received two cars and will also be conducting training in the near future. Volkswagen is now working with officials at the Morris County Sherriff and Training Academy and the Sussex County Sheriff\u2019s Office/Training Academy. At this point, a total of 30 cars are expected to be delivered.  \u201cEvery day, New Jersey first responders put their lives on the line to quickly react to emergencies involving highway accidents.\u00a0 Our goal is to improve their training regime,\u201d said Frelinghuysen.\u00a0 \u201cQuite possibly, this program will save lives. For that, we owe a debt of gratitude to our first responders.\u201d  -30-", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://frelinghuysen.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=2&itemid=1537"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6689131259918213, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}