VIDEO: Flagging, communication and detours were the main sticking points discussed at a meeting on how to better handle accidents on Interstate 78.
Firefighters, fire police, PSP troopers, EMS members, PEMA officials, PennDOT officials and others gathered at the PEMA Eastern Area Office on Tuesday night to improve handling traffic and managing the scene when an accident forces I-78 to be shut down.
This was the second such meeting. The first came back in December in light of the November 2018 storm that left motorists stranded on the highway overnight.
PSP Trooper Tracy Flynn led the open discussion. One issue that was explicitly expressed was the elimination of fire departments and fire police acting as a flagging force to direct traffic in the event of a crash after the four-hour mark.
“We’re still going to be leaving after our job is all complete,” Kutztown Fire Department Chief Eric Diehl said. “Once that is finished, we are not sticking around doing traffic anymore.”
Diehl said the department needs to get back to protecting its community.
“Legislatures need to get PennDOT more money and more equipment, whatever it takes because the fire (departments) can’t do it anymore,” Diehl said.