Public safety director discusses impact of gas industry

BY ERIC HRIN (STAFF WRITER)
Published: May 20, 2010

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Review Photo/ERIC HRIN Bradford County Public Safety Director Gary Wilcox talks during a luncheon Wednesday at Towanda High School.

Photo: N/A, License: N/A, Created: 2010:05:19 11:13:28

TOWANDA - Bradford County Public Safety Director Gary Wilcox talked about the impact of the natural gas industry in the area from a public safety standpoint on Wednesday.

At Towanda High School, Wilcox was the speaker at a luncheon in the library. Dennis Peachey, principal of Towanda Junior/Senior High School, said it was made possible through a Safe and Drug Free Schools grant.

Wilcox reviewed the call volumes at the 911 center, from 2008 through this year.

In 2008, he said, there were 112,000-plus calls and slightly more than 16,000 of those were emergency, or 911, calls in which fire, EMS or law enforcement had to be dispatched. In 2009, it was 141,000-plus calls with slightly more than 18,000 of those being emergency calls; and in 2010, it's projected that total calls will be 158,000-plus with slightly more than 24,000 emergency calls, he said.

While it was noted that cell phones allow the center to get calls quicker, the presence of the natural gas industry was acknowledged.

"I'm not going to sit here and be specific on the natural gas industry, but we all know they're here," Wilcox said. "We have a huge influx of vehicles, people, machinery, and these calls reflect that."

Speaking on the deteriorating road conditions experienced this year, he said there were about 10 roads closed in the county this winter as the area went through the freeze/thaw process, and at least another five or six that were open, but were impassable.

"There was no way I could dispatch on ambulance or a fire truck on these roads," he said. "I have an F-350 up in the Comm Center, and that's a pretty heavy-duty vehicle, and I tried to go on some of these roads to our communication towers, and I had a hard time getting through there."

"What am I going to do if somebody's house is burning or if somebody needs medical assistance?"

And he hit a note of concern that seemed timely, given the school district setting in which he was speaking.

"One of the main concerns I have is school buses," he said. "These water trucks, the heavy equipment, they want to get from A to B as quick as they can. They're not used to driving on these roads. They're not used to the snow, the ice, the corners, the ups and downs. If you have a water truck and a school bus coming, the roads aren't that wide to begin with..."

He said he was "really concerned" about the possibility of an accident between one of the trucks and a school bus.

"I hope it never happens, but it's a huge concern with everybody in the first responder field."

He told Peachey and other school officials attending that, if they experience issues or problems, to call him.

"I can't do a lot about the roads, because the county doesn't own the roads, but I can call that township supervisor," he said. "He can take the appropriate action."

Bradford County Commissioner John Sullivan said the commissioners have a pretty good relationship with most of the gas companies, and they can call them if there is an issue. He said the companies have been accommodating.

Eric Hrin can be reached at (570) 297-5251; e-mail: reviewtroy@thedailyreview.com.

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3 posted comments

I'll cut the new Director some slack because this is the first time I have read about anything he's done in this newspaper. However, I don't understand why the article's title reads, "Public safety director discusses impact of gas industry," only to find a direct quotation that reads - "I'm not going to sit here and be specific on the natural gas industry, but we all know they're here." I think most of us would like specifics. And you're right, most of us "know they're here" too. I also am finding it hard to comprehend why, without knowing specifics, the increase in calls and incidents requiring emergency response is directly caused by the natural gas industry. There is a difference between causation and correlation. But, I hope he learns more and provides us with specifics once he's been in driver's seat a little longer and can gather more information.
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Valley-ite,  05/20/10 8:24
I live in Terry Twp, Wyalusing School District. I believe that when the roads reached the point they did here last Feb/March/Apr the school district should cancel school session due to inability to travel roads - that would get state, county, residents attention in a hurry and things would not deteriorate to the point they did here. It is still not good but we can drive on the roads - I will classify most of them as fair to poor. Check out Rienze Rd. the detour for North St while they take weeks to fix that. The general situation is bad - I met 3 tanker trucks on Meas Rd in Albany Twp last night - they should never have been allowed on there at all. Have we no control?
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Pining for normal,  05/20/10 7:23
The public safety officer is really concerned, I am glad because the parents of these children are at wits end. It is never an easy thing to send the kids off on the bus on these roads in winter. With the addition of the gas traffic on the back roads, the situation is clearly life-threatening. Every day we see the haulers of water and equipment and those drilling support pickups do illegal things on the road in the good weather - not tie down loads, speed around curves, fail to stay to the right, travel unlicensed construction equipment right down the road without putting it on a trailer, ignore kids in yards despite watch children signs, fail to communicate the travel of oversize loads to the townships in advance as required by law, fail to respect residents at their mailboxes, etc. No amount of feedback or calls to the state police has stopped them as the offender is always the next driver in a line of thousands of vehicles. Until the companies get their priorities straight and stop putting time pressure on the well drilling despite the expense which time obviously incurs, nothing will change. As a result of problems on our road, CHK security has been called out and is trying to help control the situation, but they can't sit there the whole day. And there are so many roads in the county, so many vehicles and just so much security.

Relative to the school buses, they travel in a narrow time window, approximately 6:30 to 8AM loaded and again approximately 2:45 to 4:30 PM, loaded. The gas companies could schedule their traffic to be non-existant or light in these time frames, if they choose to make it a priority.

While the supervisors have the power to close the roads if conditions warrant, that is about the extent of their influence. When the populace leased, it gave the gas company the right to access its leasehold.

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Petrified parent,  05/20/10 6:00