During a recent rainstorm, Bridgeville Volunteer firefighters spent five hours pumping water out of basements on Baldwin Street.
When the next storm comes, the same volunteer firefighters will likely be back at the same houses—the ones that don’t have backflow preventers or, in some cases, sump pumps.
It’s getting old, according to fire chief Bill Chilleo.
“We could tell you the addresses off by heart,” he told council on Monday. “We have no problem helping people, but when people don’t take the initiative—when they know they live in a flood plain—to help themselves, it gets tiring.”
Mayor Pasquale DeBlasio suggested that the borough investigate ways to facilitate home owners in getting backflow preventers installed.
“I’m not suggesting that the borough should do this for them,” DeBlasio added.
But even with those improvements, solicitor Thomas McDermott said, homes are still at risk if they have bad sewer laterals.
“Then they need to solve both problems,” DeBlasio said.
Photo: Alec Perkins / CC BY