A sign promoting the Gateway At Sanatoga project sits in front of an Evergreen Road home where firefighters recently held training exercises.
LIMERICK PA – Waste not, want not, Lower Pottsgrove Fire Marshal Lew Babel figured.
Babel, the township official responsible for overall supervision of the Sanatoga and Ringing Hill volunteer fire companies, knew that two now-abandoned homes on properties south of the Sanatoga interchange at U.S. Route 422 will be torn down soon. They are being cleared, like so much ground cover already removed this week, to make way for the coming “Gateway At Sanatoga” shopping and residential project.
Why not put the homes to good use, Babel openly asked Tuesday (July 6, 2010), before they’re gone? It was a rhetorical question, directed to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners as it received the fire marshal’s report during the first of two monthly meetings in the township municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd.
Babel gave board members his answer, too: already done. Late last month, he said, firefighters used the structures as part of a training exercise in learning how to extinguish fires faster and rescue people from burning buildings.
Both single-story brick homes are located on the east side of Evergreen Road; one north of Lightcap Road, and one south, but in Limerick PA Township. Babel got permission from all parties involved, and then two crews spent two nights “out training on their own,” he said.
The fire was of the “pretend” kind – neither building actually burned – but firefighters swarmed around, over, and across them as if each was fully involved, according to Babel. They learned to open holes in roofing, find the fastest way into a garage, and safely extricate items through doors and windows.
“You can talk about all of this stuff to a group of guys, but there’s nothing like on-site training to show them,” Babel said. The Limerick Fire Department was particularly generous, he added, in letting Lower Pottsgrove encroach on its territory for the duration.
What was left behind, Babel admitted, doesn’t look pretty. To the eyes of passers-by, the homes appear to have been vacated and vandalized. Police patrols are keeping a watch over them to ward against trespassers before they are razed.
That probably won’t be long, Babel said.
Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of July 6):
- Before Demise, Limerick Homes Get Firefighters’ Farewell
- Final Words On Ringing Rocks: Okey-Dokey
- What Stinks? Unhappy Residents’ Uncollected Garbage
- Township Tax Collection Continues Up Over ’09
- Three Topics Cited In Township Exec Session
- Lower Pottsgrove Meeting Starts Early Tonight
Related (to the Gateway At Sanatoga project):
- Before Demise, Limerick Homes Get Firefighters’ Farewell
- Ground Clearing Begins At Sanatoga “Gateway”
- Developer Sets New Costco Date: Spring 2011
- New Activity Stirs For Gateway At Sanatoga Project
- Costco Approved Without Traffic Improvements (WhatsThe422.com)
- Sanatoga Gateway Endorsed By Limerick Planners (WhatsThe422.com)
- Sanatoga Project Faces Limerick Zoning Decisions
- Sanatoga Shopping Project On Limerick Zoning Agenda
- More Web Searches Seek ‘Sanatoga Springs’
- Board Approves Interchange Mapping Costs
- Sanatoga Springs Promotion In Flux
- Townships Agree To Interchange Planning
- Township Interviews For ‘Bigger Picture’
- Missing Walks Latest Bridge Complaint
- Trying, Trying Again At The Interchange
- Just One Speaker At Sanatoga Springs Hearing
- The Overlooked Users Of Sanatoga Springs
- County Suggests Cooperation On Sanatoga Springs
- Improving The Odds At The Interchange
- More About … Sanatoga Springs (No. 1 In A Series)
- Trial Balloon: An Inter-Municipal Agreement
- Lobbyists Court Lower Pottsgrove
- A New Arrival In “Sanatoga Springs”
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Do any of the people on Evergreen realize their properties are in serious jepoardy of being reduced to a value of pennies on the dollar.
They are building this massive center and it does not appear any concern has been given to the people that live on both sides of the street.
Where are the supervisors and legislative reps?
I’m not sure who all trained at these houses but I knew nothing about this. The members at Ringing Hill would like to have had a chance to train there but we knew nothing about it. Bud Lightcap Fire Chief Ringing Hill Fire Company
First thing is when you write about Lew Babel responsible for overall supervision of the Sanatoga and Ringing Hill volunteer fire companies, thats not true. It is each fire companies fire chief responsible for there own fire station. Lew Babel is the Fire Marshal for the township and does fire codes and fire inspection. I hope the township knows that Ringing Hill was not part or even ask to go and do any type of training on these building.