Fire chiefs: traffic congestion is delaying emergency response times in Bradford County
Review Photo/JAMES LOEWENSTEIN Chuck Bement of the Bradford-Sullivan EMS Council, in foreground, said ambulance services in Bradford County are becoming busier.
NORTH TOWANDA TOWNSHIP - As a result of the increased traffic on roads in the Towanda area, the number of traffic accidents last year on the "Golden Mile" in Wysox Township more than doubled, and the increased traffic congestion is delaying firefighters from getting to the scene of emergencies, two fire chiefs said Tuesday.
The increased number of motor vehicle accidents in the county and the breakdown of gas industry trucks are driving up the number of calls that area fire departments are responding to, North Towanda Fire Chief Terry Sheets said at a summit held Monday on traffic and road issues, which took place at Bradford County's 911 center.
Last year, for example, the North Towanda Fire Department last year responded to 197 calls, up from 134 the year before, Sheets said.
And the Wysox Fire Department responded to over 200 calls last year, whereas it would on average respond to 130 in a year, Sheets said.
"I think every fire department in the county is taxed because of (the need for) manpower and the (delayed) response time because of the traffic," Sheets said.
The summit, which was organized on behalf of the Bradford County commissioners and the Bradford County Department of Emergency Services, was also attended by officials from the state police, the state Department of Transportation, several gas drilling companies, all three Bradford County commissioners, the Troy and Towanda police chiefs, the Wysox fire chief, and representatives from the Bradford County Emergency Services Department and Bradford-Susquehanna EMS Council.
Sheets said firefighters are being delayed as they try to get through congested traffic to their fire stations, where they transfer to fire trucks.
"It's just about impossible to get through" U.S. Route 6 in Wysox Township (the Golden Mile) to get to local fire stations, Sheets said.
"People don't yield to the caution lights" on the firefighters' personal vehicles as they drive to the fire stations, Sheets said.
"It's delaying the response time (to get to emergencies) because people can't get to the station in a timely manner," Sheets said.
The traffic congestion on Route 6 in Wysox Township between the Veterans Memorial Bridge and state Route 187 is so bad that "ninety percent of the time it takes 20 minutes to (drive) those two miles," Wysox Fire Chief Brett Keeney said.
On that two-mile stretch of road, there were 120 motor vehicle accidents last year, up from the approximately 40 to 50 accidents a year that would normally occur on that section of Route 6, Keeney said.
And he said the 120 accidents only represents the ones that the fire department was called out to.
The fire department is not called out to minor accidents, such as rear-end collisions where no one is hurt and the vehicles involved can pull off the road, Keeney said.
Keeney estimated that, in total, there are now over 200 accidents a year reported through 911 on that two-mile stretch of Route 6.
Bradford County Public Safety Director Gary Wilcox has said that the advent of the gas industry has resulted in a lot more vehicles on the roads in Bradford County. And with more vehicles on the road, there is an increased likelihood of accidents, he said.
Sheets said another problem is that firefighters "are being called out constantly for trucks being broken down."
"We spend two, three, four hours doing traffic control for disabled, broken-down vehicles in the road," Sheets said.
"Our people have lives, too," Sheets said. "We're being burdened to take care (of this)."
Still another problem is that firefighters are being called out because traffic on local roads is being impeded due to trucks that have run out of fuel.
He said the problem is that the companies that own the trucks will only allow them to refuel once a night.
The trucks "can sit there for two hours" while they wait for another truck to arrive on scene to refuel it.
But state police Cpl. Roger Stipcak said that the state police could order the trucks towed immediately to clear the roadway, so that firefighters wouldn't have to wait for the refueling truck to arrive.
Bradford County Commissioner John Sullivan said he was concerned about the increased call volume that fire departments are experiencing because it is a burden for the volunteers in the fire departments.
Eventually, he said, there are going to be volunteers who quit because they need to spend more time with their families or on their jobs, he said.
"Whatever we can do to ease that callout volume is something we want to look at," Sullivan said.
More coverage of the summit will be in Thursday's Daily Review.
James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; or e-mail: jloewenstein@thedailyreview.com.
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