Lower Macungie Firefighters Answer the Call ... 35 Times

Sunday, Aug. 28 was anything but a day of rest for the volunteers of Lower Macungie Fire Department.

The drenching rains and whipping winds of Hurricane Irene brought 35 calls for help from township residents, according to Fire Chief David Nosal. Those ranged from downed power lines to basement pumpouts, to swiftwater rescues to evacuating The Village at Willow Lane.

"We had about a month's worth of calls in about 18 hours," Nosal said. "It was very challenging all over. That's a lot of business to take care of in 18 hours."

Nosal estimated he had an average of 25 volunteers available throughout the day. They were assigned to vehicles that would respond depending on whether the emergency was a fire, rescue or pump detail.

The day began at 3:03 a.m. with the first wires call, according to Nosal. More than half the calls -- 18 -- were basement pumpouts. The two swiftwater incidents assisted motorists stranded in vehicles reach safety, but no one was in danger of drowning. Another call involved a tree that had fallen on a house.

Probably the most interesting call involved reaching a treatment facility behind Camp Olympic. Nosal said a client was in need of medication. The facility could not be reached from the driveway because of water. Instead, volunteers used the Turnpike and scaled an embankment to reach the client and staff worker.

The most labor-intensive effort involved the evacuation of The Village at Willow Lane, a facility for senior citizens. The effort involved moving at least a dozen wheelchair-bound residents from the second and third floors and all 56 residents from the home. School buses transported them to facilities elsewhere. The move became necessary after the home lost power for about 24 hours.

In all, Nosal estimated his volunteers put in 450 man-hours to meet the needs. He said the township was well prepared, but he offered a few observations.

First, he said his volunteers have five portable pumps to assist residents. That means prioritizing reported flooding reports and patience on residents' parts. He said he knew some residents were frustrated, but believes his department offers excellent resources.

He added the suggestion that residents who have frequent flooding problems should consider purchasing an adequately sized pump for their own use and consider buying a generator as well, since electrical outages during similar storms may occur.

He also asked that residents heed the warning of barricades, noting there is danger ahead when those are put in place.

Nosal was proud of the job his volunteers performed in protecting the safety and minimizing the property loss and inconvenience of township residents.

"That's a credit to the guys, their spouses and kids," he said of the volunteers' sacrifices to leave their own homes to help others. "They gave up their whole Sunday with their families."

Nearby, the boroughs of Alburtis and Macungie comparatively were spared. Alburtis had one road closure, according to Emergency Management Coordinator Paul Siegfried. Macungie firefighters pumped one basement, according to Macungie Emergency Management Coordinator David Boyko.