Crime & Safety

Hellertown Fire Chief Delivers Annual Report, Wants Barriers Installed

Rick Delmore tells Borough Council that volunteers have been responding to more highway calls.

In his 2010 annual report, delivered to Borough Council at its Feb. 7 meeting, Fire Chief Rick Delmore said volunteers responded to an increased number of calls to local highways last year.

In 2009, Dewey responded to a total of 88 motor vehicle accidents, but in 2010 the company was caled to 106, including 13 each month in both November and December.

The company was called to the scene of three pedestrian accidents in 2010, as opposed to eight the year before, according to the report.

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Dwelling fire calls increased slightly, from 19 in 2009 to 22 in 2010, and fire alarm-related responses rose sharply from 39 in 2009 to 55 in 2010.

Delmore noted that there was a slight increase in "wire fires and downed wire" calls in 2010, but attributed that rise to "a lot of wind storms throughout the year."

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In addressing borough council, he said Dewey Fire Company and its 35 current members are eager to see the installation of cable median barriers along Interstate 78 in Northampton County.

"We're in huge support of PennDOT installing the barriers," he said, adding that in September emergency officials responded to two separate crossover accidents on the nearby highway "two days in a row."

Borough Councilman and Dewey EMS Captain John Bate followed up on Delmore's report by further addressing the issue of crossover accidents on I-78, which he said have left first responders rattled.

"One of our biggest concerns is our personnel," he said, adding that one Thanksgiving weekend several years ago seven people were killed on the local stretch of highway.

The good news, Bate continued, is that PennDOT is moving forward with its plan to install this spring the cable median barriers that will help prevent crossover accidents from occurring.

But he encouraged his fellow council members to "be proactive" and follow by sending a letter requesting the installation of the barriers to state, county and elected officials.

"In 2010 they were supposed to be done," Bate said, referring to the barriers. "I think as citizens we need to be proactive and say, 'Hey, you need to do it now. Enough's enough.'"

PennDOT Engineering District 5 Press Officer Ron Young recently confirmed that the state agency is planning to install a "high tension cable median guide rail along I-78...between Exit 60 (PA 309/PA 145) and the New Jersey state line."

The project, which is being funded by close to $10 million from the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, "began in the fall of 2009 and will finish this year," Young said.

Council unanimously approved a motion to draft and send a letter on behalf of the borough to urge the installation of the barriers as soon as possible.


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