Lower Burrell fire department looks to upgrade command center after last week's microburst

Lower Burrell Volunteer Fire Company No. 3 is exploring upgrading its command center after responding to 120 calls in 3.5 hours during the June 22 microburst.

Councilwoman Brandy Grieff, who heads up the city’s Public Safety Department, is meeting with the city’s firefighters, police and public works department to review the city’s response to the storm and suggest future improvements.

“My goal is to keep my residents and first responders safe,” she said.

Grieff wants to review the city’s emergency response plan and needs, and hopes to streamline operations.

The strong winds from the severe storms that ripped through the Alle-Kiski Valley on June 22 snapped and uprooted trees, tore down power lines on houses and cars and caused other damage.

During the peak of the storm, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., the National Weather Service estimated wind speeds between 58 and 65 mph, said Alicia Miller, a weather service meteorologist.

Lower Burrell No. 3 sent out 30 firefighters, broken up into eight crews, and there were three crews of firefighters from New Kensington and Arnold. Those crews coordinated with city police and its public works department through No. 3’s command center, a temporary emergency operations center, which is set up exclusively during emergencies.

The crews responded to high winds toppling a gas pump that caused a small, short-lived fire and another potential electrical fire at another location, as well as many downed trees and power lines draped over homes and cars, Brennan Sites said.

Firefighters had to rescue a resident stuck in an elevator on the seventh floor of Lower Burrell Manor senior high-rise.

“We had extreme damage on the higher elevations,” Sites said. “Some of these trees were so massive that it took multiple crews to clear sites.”

Lower Burrell No. 3 set up a command station with Westmoreland County emergency services funneling emergency reports to Lower Burrell No. 3 to dispatch city crews and other emergency operations.

Firefighters and Grieff, in the command center, recorded emergencies and used a dry erase board to track the calls during the storm.

Sites and others are looking for computer software to increase the effectiveness of tracking and dispatching of multiple events for the next emergency.

“We are glad that we had backup generators and new heating and air-conditioning system,” he said.

The fire company’s building was one of the few buildings in that area that didn’t lose power during the storm, he said.