Crime & Safety

Public Safety Responders Get a Lesson in What's Right—And What's Wrong

As a way to enhance safety practices, Cranberry participates in a Traffic Incident Management training exercise with fire and law enforcement agencies from around the region.

The Cranberry Volunteer Fire Company just wasn’t prepared.

The batteries in the radios were dead, so fire police couldn’t communicate with each other, an emergency response vehicle was parked too close to a fire engine, creating a safety hazard, and some of the firefighters weren’t dressed in full gear.  

Fortunately, this wasn’t real life.

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“This is how not to do it,” said Chuck Yorks, the incident management/emergency management specialist at Gannett Fleming. “They were told to set it up incorrectly, and they did.”

The fire company was participating in an I-79/I-76 Traffic Incident Management scene set up training exercise to enhance first responder safety. 

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Part of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, TIMs brings together first responders from around the region to discuss safety improvements, clearing crashes from the roadway, bettering communications and more.

Organizations that belong to the I-79/I-76 TIMs include police and fire departments from Cranberry, Jackson, Marshall and Pine townships as well as Franklin Park and Zelienople boroughs. PennDOT District 10 and District 11 also belong to the program.  

As part of Wednesday’s training exercise, Cranberry firefighters incorrectly set up a crash scene in the parking lot of Cranberry’s public works building, which is located off Route 19.

TIMs members who attended the seminar—including Marshall, Franklin Park and Harmony fire departments, Jackson Township police and state police—then discussed what they observed in the set-up, including what was done right—and what was done wrong.

“We want to know what you think about what were presenting,” Adam Marshall, a safety and traffic engineer with PennDOT Distric 10, told the group. “We want to know if there’s something you do that you can share with one another. That’s what this group is all about, sharing information and trying to get in a position where we can all work together.”

Emergency responders then spent about an hour discussing different ways to handle the incident. After that, Cranberry fighters again set up the crash scenario—this time correctly.

“We’re setting them up with an opportunity to learn from one another,” Yorks said of the exercise.

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