By Brad Rhen
The Lebanon Daily News
LICKDALE, Pa. — Paul Snyder has been a member of the Lickdale Community Fire Co. in Union Township for 30 years.
Now the company’s chief, Snyder has responded to his share of accidents and vehicle fires on I-81, which runs just behind the firehouse on Route 72. Nearby is the merge — or split, depending on which direction you’re traveling — with I-78.
“It’s different,” Snyder said about responding to calls on interstate highways. “You never know what you’re gonna get into as you’re going out.”
For fire and ambulance services, being situated near an interstate highway changes the nature of what they do. They often have to deal with unclear locations when responding to an emergency, and they must deal with traffic on the interstate, where vehicles travel in excess of 65 mph and rarely slow down, even if they see flashing red lights.
About 48,000 vehicles use I-81 just south of its junction with I-78 in Union Township each day, according to statistics from PennDOT. About 16,150, or 32 percent, of those vehicles are tractor-trailers.
With a posted speed limit of 65 mph on both highways, responding to an emergency can be hazardous for emergency personnel. Once they arrive, working at the scene can be hair-raising as well.
Even though a fire truck may have its lights and sirens going and is traveling 65 mph, Snyder said, other drivers still blow by them.
“They don’t slow down; they just keep going,” he said. “They want to beat you so they don’t have to wait in line.”
Despite his 30 years responding to calls on the interstate, Snyder still is not accustomed to being out there. He said he has seen numerous close calls in which a driver almost hit an emergency vehicle or worker.
“We’ve come close where one almost hit another apparatus,” he said. “Just from back-ups or rubber-neckers, the tires start squealing, and it’s like, ‘Here we go!’ and you duck and run because you think it’s going to happen right there where you’re at. It’s just it’s own beast out there.”
Down the road, Ono Fire Co. in East Hanover Township is responsible for six miles of I-81 near the Lebanon-Dauphin county line. Ono’s chief, Matt Hetrick, agreed that life on the interstate is dangerous for emergency personnel.
Hetrick, who has been with Ono for 25 years, said when he started with the company, traffic on I-81 was light when responding to early morning incidents.
“You’d see a few tractor-trailers and a couple of cars,” he said. “Now, you go out there at 3 o’clock in the morning, it’s crazy. The first thing we tell our guys is you don’t get out of the rig until your officer tells you to get out of the rig, especially out on the interstate.”
Hetrick also said vehicles don’t move over for emergency equipment like they used to.
“There’s very little respect,” he said. “The danger level is so much higher now than it used to be. We’ve just got to be really careful out on the interstate, because you just make the wrong step in one direction, you’re on the grill of a tractor-trailer.”
Firefighters are not the only ones who must brave the traffic on interstates. Ambulance crews are also subject to the perils of the highway.
Bryan Smith, executive director and chief of First Aid and Safety Patrol, an ambulance service that responds to calls throughout most of Lebanon County, agrees that responding to calls on interstates is dangerous.
“There’s a chance you’ll be in harm’s way on any road,” he said. “Any roadway there’s the opportunity for that, but that opportunity increases when you go to a road where there’s a higher speed and more vehicles.”
With five stations around Lebanon County, FASP provides coverage to interstates 81 and 78 as well as the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
“It’s definitely eye-opening when you have your back to a roadway, and a car goes by at 65, 70 miles an hour,” he said. “It increases your anxiety.”
Another aspect of responding to calls on the interstate is finding the location. Unlike local roads, which have street addresses and intersections to identify the location of a crash, interstates only have mile markers.
And oftentimes, people reporting an accident do not stop; they just call from their cell phone as they drive by at 70 mph.
“They may tell you it’s mile marker 91, and you may find it up at mile marker 93,” Snyder said. “Sometimes they give very good locations, and sometimes you go on wild goose chases and waste your time running around.”
Often, locating the scene of an emergency is hampered by limited access to the highway, Hetrick said.
“There’s one place to get on,” he said. “It’s not like you can drive a half-mile down the road and come at it from a different angle.”
Once on the highway, it can be difficult to find the accident because responders are often given inaccurate information. Then, Hetrick said, there might not be an emergency turn-around for several miles.
“People don’t pay attention when they’re driving,” he said. “Maybe the crash is at the 83 mile marker, but they’re three miles down the road when they finally make the 911 call, and the dispatcher is asking them where they’re at. That’s where the dispatcher sends us to. We lose so much time.”
Smith, who has been with FASP for about 15 years, with 13 years as an EMT, agreed that there’s a problem getting accurate locations.
“You’re at the mercy of the 911 caller,” he said. “You’re at the mercy of getting them the right location. That’s really nobody’s fault. That’s just the nature of the mile marker business.”
Copyright 2011 Lebanon Daily News