Friday, January 23, 2009

Fire Flyer

Here's the city's fire safety tip leaflet officials said will be distributed to all city residents in light of the string of arsons that continues. FireFlyer.pdf

Authorities continue to urge city residents to call 911 to report any suspicious activity as well as descriptions, such as license plate numbers, colors of suspicious vehicles, descriptions of suspicious people, strangers messing with trash cans or late-night trespassers.

Authorities also urged residents to remove any items from their porches that could be used to start a fire. Residents are asked to keep their porch lights on throughout the night or install motion detector lights. Additionally, residents should make sure their smoke detectors are working properly and residents have planned escape routes.

In an effort to have quicker responses to arson related incidents, officials released a phone number for a roving police patrol supervisor during late evening and early morning hours. Residents can call 610-636-0514 to report suspicious activity.

City officials are also seeking volunteers for the newly formed Neighborhood Watch program. Officials are seeking "block watch captains" in each of the city's five wards to "assist the police in apprehending the arsonist(s) responsible for tragic fires taking place in our city." Informational Neighborhood Watch meetings will be held at City Hall from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday and 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

And just FYI, there is a City Council meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday night at City Hall.