Northern Butler County emergency services discuss collaboration, preparedness
PINE TWP, Mercer County — Three northern Butler County municipalities’ emergency services and an ambulance service company are looking to bolster their responses to future emergencies by taking collaboration one step further.
First responders and municipal officials from Harrisville borough, Mercer Township and Marion Township met at Superior Ambulance Service in Mercer County on Wednesday, Oct. 1, to hold an open discussion on ways to collaborate and pool resources.
Doug Dick, EMS chief of Superior Ambulance Service, said the inspiration for sitting down was due to the recent threat at Grove City College.
“It kind of put into perspective how ill prepared we all are. If anybody thinks that we’re prepared, I can shed a lot of light on how we’re not prepared,” he said.
To start, Dick asked attendees what major issues they are facing. The No. 1 concern among most present was staffing for both paid and volunteer emergency services.
Another issue raised by Harrisville’s assistant chief, Will Boyle, is that the northern part of the county has multiple locations that could result in a major incident, such as Iron Mountain in Cherry Township and Transitions Healthcare Autumn Grove in Harrisville.
“In some jurisdictions you have paid department or extra EMS resources, lots of manpower — we don’t. So we’re going to have to handle that once-in-a-career type incident with half the manpower that a lot of other places do,” he said.
With those weaknesses in mind, Dick said the group should consider sitting down and figuring out who can provide specific resources for specific situations, not only between the different organizations but within the region as a whole.
He also mentioned the importance of having not just one method of getting specialized resources as an additional level of preparedness.
“We would like to get resources listed, and not just one phone number, but multiple people,” Dick said. “Allegheny Mineral has a wealth of equipment sitting around in different places, but it may not be available.”
Dick also highlighted the importance of the municipal officials supporting their departments by having some training on emergency response and by helping to educate their residents.
“I think we take it for granted that the public knows all this stuff about public safety. The only thing they do know, and we’ve done a great job on this, is dialing 911,” he said.
The discussion ended with Dick promising to send attendees an email chain to discuss ideas further, with meetings being considered on a quarterly basis.
