Firefighters need road access

DINGMAN - Thirteen miles between interstate exits is a long haul for emergency responders when lives could be at stake. “We need an emergency access road to U.S. Route 84,” Dingman Township Fire Chief Bill Mikulak told township supervisors last Tuesday. Concerned about the distance between the Lords Valley and the Milford exits on Interstate Highway 84, Mikulak said, “It’s an awful long way in an emergency.” Supervisors chair Tom Mincer questioned Mikulak as to what he had in mind. Mikulak proposed an emergency access road off Raymondskill Road, which could be locked off, preventing public access, an idea that is supported by other emergency services as well. He told the Courier he had spoken to Penn Department of Transportation employees who had said the cost would be modest since Raymondskill and Frenchtown roads are so close. “Frenchtown Road runs parallel to 84 and at the same plateau, so all they’d have to do is scrape off a few inches of dirt and lay down some blacktop and we’d have access.” On Valentine’s Day, with the heavy snowfall, Interstate highways 78, 81 and 80 were shut down and motorists were left stranded with no way to get off the roads. It took three days to get the place cleaned up, according to Mikulak. “If we have to get up to 84 now we’d have to go all the way to Lords Valley or cut through Pocono Woodlands and get up to 84 north of Milford. It is something we need, as we always need to have an emergency plan in place,” the fire chief added. In other business on Tuesday, the supervisors approved an amendment change to the “Insurance Company Law of 1921” which was adopted by Dingman in 1992 as part of the ‘Fire Loss Ordinance.’ The requirements an owner or builder must do to rebuild or abandon a fire-damaged structure are stated much more clearly in the amendment. The Preserve at Milford Hills also made a request to reduce the $1.8 million dollar “performance bond” they had secured for the township by nearly 50 percent. The supervisors agreed to review this request.