By David O’Connor
The Intelligencer Journal/New Era
LANCASTER, Pa. — A half-dozen or so cars pulled up to the intersection from both directions on a winter weekday.
And Manheim Township’s fire chief just smiled as he looked at the nonrush-hour congestion at New Holland Pike and Eden Road, in front of Eden Fire Company.
With traffic backups a daily occurrence at the busy intersection just northeast of Lancaster, it’s “a safety issue for the motoring public, to keep them away from the front of the firehouse,” fire chief Rick Kane said.
“At the same time, it’s certainly a safety issue for the firefighters on the trucks that they not get tangled up with a car” on their way out to a fire, Kane said.
That’s where a new traffic pre-emption system, one of the first of its kind in central Pennsylvania, comes into the picture.
Eden, one of Manheim Township’s three volunteer fire departments, recently began using the special device that allows the department to alter the traffic flow on New Holland Pike (Route 23) for a distance of up to several hundred feet.
Many fire departments have equipment that can alter traffic signals in an emergency, halting opposing traffic so their fire apparatus can make a quick exit from the station.
But Eden’s new equipment is a major upgrade over regular pre-emption devices.
With its equipment, Eden is able to control traffic several hundred feet westward on New Holland Pike.
When there’s a fire call and the apparatus needs to get out, Eden can create a red light for eastbound Route 23 vehicles before they get to the station, at a spot just west of the firehouse.
At the same time, the department crews can make the New Holland Pike light at Eden “go green” for eastbound.
That way, they can head east without a stack of cars blocking the firetrucks’ exit or a red light in front of them.
When the firefighters return to the station, it’s the same deal, the chief said.
Cost for the upgraded equipment was $80,000 and came out of Manheim Township’s capital (long-range) budget for 2009-10.
The traffic signals are operated by a control box inside Eden’s two main fire vehicles, a ladder truck and an engine.
While every other emergency pre-emption device in Lancaster County is set for high frequency so everybody can use it, Eden’s device is the only one in the county that’s set for low frequency, requiring the special control box in its fire trucks to operate the device, Kane said.
The three township volunteer fire departments respond to an estimated 3,000 emergency calls a year.
Copyright 2010 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.