Residents protest address changes

By TOM KANE

HONESDALE, PA - The Wayne County Commissioners got an earful on May 7 from residents of southern Wayne County who were angry that they will have to change their 911 addresses?again.

Because of the changes in new technology and further legislative requirements that were issued by the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) for locator 911 and wireless systems, many of the old addresses will not “fit” into the specific ranges used for assigning addresses and will have to be changed.

“This is the third time that we’ve been asked to change our addresses,” said one angry resident. All of the residents were from small community developments. “Is somebody going to pay for this or reimburse us for this rather expensive change?”

“We understand how much this may upset you, but we have to be on the side of health and public safety,” said Brian Smith, chairman of the commissioners. “We cannot allow our citizens to be under risk if this system or something very much like it is not adopted.”

“Three years ago, we bypassed communities that already had post office numbers on their properties and we used that number to also be the 911 number,” said commissioner Tony Herzog. “That has to change because of the wireless telephone and the automatic Global Positioning System locator systems that are now in use.”

Emergency service zones for all fire, ambulance and police companies, as well as wireless callers and land-lines, are now based on longitude and latitude coordinates. If established numbers could be ranged within the new parameters, addresses did not need to change. However, 8,000 residences fall outside those ranges, out of a total of about 40,000, and will have to change their addresses.

At the 911 center, there must now be uniformity in the number of properties within a determined area. There must be a 911 address every 52.8 feet on roads and streets, with room for new consecutive address numbers in places where no buildings exist. Existing numbers that can’t be worked into this formula will be changed.

Smith insisted that the commissioners were upset about the inconvenience put on the public, although it was necessary for public safety. “We don’t want to lose a life over a dispatching problem,” Smith said.

One resident suggested that a computer program should be able to take the old address and convert it to a new one, which could then be given to emergency workers.

“If anyone can bring us a company with the technology that will resolve this problem, we are interested in hearing about it,” Herzog said.

“The county will contact the U.S. Postal Service to ask that if we issue a new 911 address, whether it is mandated that this must also be the mailing address,” Herzog said. “If they say it must be, then we have a problem which we must address.”