By Mary Klaus
The Patriot News
EAST HANOVER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Most people visiting the Hollywood Casino in East Hanover Twp., Dauphin County, when it opens today probably will focus on the decor and the 2,000 slot machines.
Saul Schmolitz, the Grantville Volunteer Fire Company’s chief, has spent months focusing on the sprinkler heads, the fire hydrants and the water tank holding about 500,000 gallons of water.
“The casino is five stories high and has 375,000 square feet,” said Schmolitz, whose 40 volunteer firefighters provide fire protection to the casino complex and the rest of the 39-square-mile township.
“We’ve spent a lot of hours preplanning, figuring out what to do in an emergency there,” he said.
When the Grantville Volunteer Fire Company was formed in 1948, East Hanover Twp. was a rural farming community with 1,557 residents. Six decades later, the township has 5,332 residents.
The casino at Penn National Race Course is expected to attract about 2 million people annually and swell the township’s population.
Schmolitz, the Grantville fire chief for five years, has worked on plans with Rodney Sonderman, the Hershey Volunteer Fire Department’s first assistant chief. That department has planned for emergencies at such large facilities as Hersheypark, the Hershey Lodge, The Hotel Hershey and The Hershey Co.
If there’s a fire at the complex, water shouldn’t be a problem, he said, contrasting this to the rest of the township. Grantville firefighters generally have to draft water from ponds or bring it to a fire in tanker trucks because the rest of the township doesn’t have hydrants.
Schmolitz said the casino has sprinklers as well as well-marked exits and stairways.
“I’ve taken our firefighters and those from neighboring companies on tours so we can learn the building,” he said. “The property has several entrances available for firefighters.”
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