Who\u2019s going to respond to a 3-car pile up on Interstate 99 in Antis Township? Who\u2019s going to be there when one of the three local reservoirs begin flooding? What happens if there\u2019s a repeat of the 9-11 tragedy right here in our own backyard?
\nThese are questions that will soon be pointed in the directions of the joint Emergency Operations Plan authority, which is currently being worked out by officials in Bellwood Borough and Antis Township.
\nAt last evening\u2019s regularly scheduled meeting of the Bellwood Borough Council, officials unanimously voted, 6-0, to enter into an agreement with Antis Township to form the new authority. Antis Township Supervisor Ray Amato, said the benefits of such an organization would not only better protect the two municipality\u2019s citizens, but also make emergency responders more organized when a call comes in.
\n\u201cThe way we do thing now when something happens is really senseless,\u201d said Bellwood Council President Wayne Snare. \u201cOne person runs here while another is running there. Sometimes it just doesn\u2019t make sense.
\n\u201cThis kind of organization would tighten the operations up a little and give the emergency people the organization they need to get out to an accident scene in a timely and prepared matter,\u201d said Snare.
\nAccording to Amato, the idea of forming a combined organization arose after the state and federal government began pressuring smaller communities to form emergency plans after the events of 9-11.
\n\u201cWe knew we needed to put some kind of plan together,\u201d said Amato. \u201cWe\u2019re still early in the planning, but I\u2019m hoping we get things going here within the next 90 days.\u201d
\nAccording to Amato, the plan would combine the resources of both the township and the borough when an emergency situation would arise. These resources include the sharing of equipment, employees and police.
\nAmato said the headquarters for any emergency operation would be inside the Bellwood Borough building. Here, computers, telephones, generators, etc., would be stored for emergency situations. He added that the three fire companies, located in Tipton, Pinecroft and Bellwood, would be established as emergency shelters.
\nAlthough the plan is still in its infant stages and officials continue to hammer out details, both municipalities see the move as a step forward.
\n\u201cI really believe this will be a good program and a benefit to our residents,\u201d said Snare. \u201cOur municipalities may not see eye-to-eye on everything, but this is definitely something we can agree on.\u201d
\nAmato echoed Snare\u2019s thoughts.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re happy it\u2019s moving forward,\u201d he said. \u201cOur residents deserve to be protected in the best and most efficient way possible. An organization like this will let us do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Who\u2019s going to respond to a 3-car pile up on Interstate 99 in Antis Township? Who\u2019s going to be there when one of the three local reservoirs begin flooding? What happens if there\u2019s a repeat of the 9-11 tragedy right here in our own backyard? These are questions that will soon be pointed in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47314\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}