Saturday, March 9, 2013
Two house fires in Forks Township in less than two weeks has my ears listening for alarms.
So there I was after a long day Tuesday getting snuggled up under the blankets in bed watching a movie. It was around 7:15 p.m. and dinner was finished and I was watching "A Few Good Men" for the zillionth time. Then I heard them. Out in the distance, I could hear sirens. And my first thoughts were, "Oh, no..." A little more than a week earlier I was covering the Forks Township Board of Supervisors meeting when I heard the alarms. Since the agenda was lengthy, I was kind of hoping it wasn't anything major, but then the alarms kept coming. Then I got an alert about a house fire. So I bolted. I asked a former supervisor for directions and then headed down Sullivan Trail, trying to find the flames in the sky. The scene was amazing. About 50 …
Monday, February 4, 2013
Proposal would help Forks Township deal with blighted properties.
Forks Township Zoning Officer Tim Weis thought he had a good idea. He wanted to pitch to the Board of Supervisors a proposal that would help the township take measures when a building or home was destroyed by a fire. Weis proposed an ordinance that Forks Township officials would intervene in main fire loss claims when a building is boarded up to ensure safety measures. He said in the past decade, the township had 14 structure fires where safety measures weren't taken at some structures for three to six months and another for a year because of insurance issues. Weis said the state was allowing municipalities to step in to make the property safe. "I think it's too complicated to maintain," Supervisor David Billings said when the matter was …
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Nothing but the frame left as an early-morning fire tears through Youell's Oyster House; reports of an injured firefighter received from the field.
An early-morning fire has destroyed Youell's Oyster House in West Allentown, leaving three firefighters injured. UPDATE 11:37am: Nearby homes are being evacuated while what's left ot Youell's is being demolished. WFMZ reports that homes nearby were not damaged by the fire. UPDATE 8:43am: A breaking news alert confirms that two firefighters were injured when a wall fell. A third reported with burns on his forehead. Breaking news alerts about the three-alarm fire started streaming in around 4:30 this morning. According to the alerts, backup fire crews were called to the scene as crews battled the blaze. According to WFMZ, three firefighters were injured when the structure started to collapse. Alerts were first sent out about an injured …
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Forks Township Fire Department responds to fire on Glover Road Friday night.
A fire in Forks Township Friday night destroyed a boat and two trailers while also damaging three other trailers, Fire Chief Chuck Chapman said. The fire at a storage facility on Glover Road was first reported around 8:15 p.m. and was knocked down an hour later. There were no injuries. It was not clear what sparked the fire and an investigation is continuing, according to the Easton Express-Times.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
There's seldom a dull moment during our annual pilgrimage 'down the shore.'
For the almost 24 years I’ve been a member of the very large Kells family, we’ve vacationed together in Ocean City, N.J., over an extended Mother’s Day weekend. We'd all get down there on a Thursday, and stay until Sunday or Monday, pretty much inhabiting an entire floor of the resort. Perhaps the word “inhabit” is a bit tame. Take a loud Polish/Irish Catholic family, throw in some beer and other assorted alcohol, house them in cramped quarters, and let's just say that things can get pretty rowdy. Occasionally, an errant family had the misfortune to be wedged in a room between our very vocal clan. We just did what Star Trek's master race, the “Borg,” would do, and assimilated them. It was the only humane thing to do. Besides, resistance …
