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Fire crews take part in flood wall training

Behind the backhoe pictured, members of several fire departments put away pieces of Wellsville’s flood wall in its storage facility following a training session conducted Sunday morning. The Wellsville Fire Department hosted the training session, while fire crews from Highlandtown, Irondale, Liverpool Township and Calcutta also participated in the session. (Photo by Steve Rappach)

WELLSVILLE — Fire crews throughout the county took time Sunday to prepare in the event a flood should take place in the village of Wellsville.

Fire departments from five different municipalities participated in a training session Sunday morning at the flood wall located on Wells Avenue. The purpose for the training was for fire crews to gain experience in setting up the wall as well as prepare for what else they would need to do should flooding happen in the area.

The Wellsville Fire Department hosted the training session, with members of the Highlandtown Volunteer, Irondale, Liverpool Township and Calcutta departments participating.

Crews started their training at 9 a.m. as they brought out pieces of the flood wall, which are stored in a unit to the side of the road near the south murals. Using a backhoe and as much manpower as possible, crews brought out the pieces and started constructing the wall.

Wellsville Fire Chief Barry Podwel noted that once completed, the wall–which blocks traffic on Lisbon Street due to its span–stands about 16-feet tall. He added the time to construct the wall depends on the available manpower during that time.

“The quickest we’ve had it up is 45 minutes, and that’s with water coming up,” Podwel said. “Usually it takes us about …a couple hours, two or three hours. We try to take our time when we do something like that.”

While the wall is being constructed, according to Podwel, officials monitor the water activity at the creek with a gauge located on the side of the bridge and, depending on the height of the water, take certain steps, which include notifying the National Weather Service’s Pittsburgh office and the New Cumberland Dam in the event of further action.

“When it gets up to a four-and-a-half feet on that gauge, we call Pittsburgh National Weather Service and say, ‘This is Wellsville Fire Department, the creek’s coming up. We’re checking rate of rise and now starting it’,” Podwel said. “Then they’ll say check it in another hour. ‘Give us an hour and see what the rate of rise is’. If it’s only going up, say, six inches in two hours, or six inches in an hour, we don’t have to call so often.

“Now when it gets too high, we’ll phone up New Cumberland Dam, and find out if they have the information on time of crest and what it’s going to crest at. They know pretty much a roundabout figure.”

After making contacts with NWS Pittsburgh and the New Cumberland Dam, according to Podwel, the village administrator is then contacted, to which the administrator will close a valve which is used to prevent water from entering and flooding businesses in the village.

“Then they’ll start working all the valves, and once it starts to get up to nine feet, then they’ll turn all the pumps on to get the water out,” Podwel said. “The pumps are what is inside the village, inside the wall and everything.”

Podwel added that once the water starts to recede in the creek, crews will then disassemble the wall. For the training session, by 12:30 p.m., crews disassembled the wall, returned the pieces to its nearby storage facility and began the cleanup process.

Podwel said the village had previously held the session with the departments every other year, but now looks to hold the session on a more-regular basis.

“It used to be two years, but I want to do it every year to keep it fresh in our minds,” Podwel said. “But it’s going to be a yearly thing probably every October, try to do it every October that way it’s not that cold and not that hot. We put it up in the cold, and we put it up in the hot as well.”

Due to the training session taking place, Wells Avenue was closed from state Route 45 on the east end of the road to Second Street from the west. McDonald’s, located near the flood wall, remained open for business during this time, and a dedicated lane was available for customers who wished to visit the restaurant.

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