Letter to the Editor

Editor:
This letter is to explain a few things to the general public. At the last meeting of the Citizen’s Hose Company, South Renovo, much discussion centered on the many calls received throughout the Communications Center for “Tree Down”. Over the years these calls have become more frequent. One reason why is the introduction of cell phones to Clinton County. Anyone in a car or riding a bike can easily call “9-1-1”. This starts a chain that ultimately ends with an area fire company being dispatched to the location. These calls do not care about the time of day or the locale.

Another problem our members encountered are the times when, once on scene, the tree may be very small. A small effort by the person who Ade the call could have easily moved the tree{branch} and continued on the way.

Other times the trees have fallen near the travel lanes but not affecting traffic flow. There are times tree removal, slides, etc take time. If they call for utilities to deal with power lines or heavy equipment to remove road debris, etc, it takes a lot of time for them to arrive on scene. Meanwhile the fire companies spend hours babysitting that area. The firemen may miss work or be late for the normal job. These calls may be at anytime in 24 hour period.

All municipalities in Clinton County have crews along with PENNDOT who are tasked with road maintenance. Yet often they do not appear to the scene! Why?

Regardless firemen are tiring quickly with the aforementioned scenarios. Ride company work is about endless: training, equipment maintenance, fund raising, running fire and MVA calls. They are also often called by an ambulance for lift assist calls.

The point of this letter is not to place blame on any municipal entity. It is a red flag that many fire services are wearing thin. Many have very limited manpower and are being overworked.

Reed Morton
Citizens Hose Company
South Renovo, PA