After tornadoes, Trafford, Irwin, North Irwin looking to band together for future emergencies

The tornado that whipped through parts of Trafford and Penn Township on June 26 prompted Trafford, Irwin and North Irwin to consider uniting to provide assistance in the case of another natural disaster, local officials said.

“It will get everything on the radar, in terms of resource sharing,” said Jaime Peticca, Trafford Borough manager.

After public works employees from Irwin and North Irwin helped to clear Route 993 in the Trafford area “we realized that we needed to have a plan in place for the future, so we can more easily offer assistance while protecting our employees, if they should get injured,” said Sue Kochman, North Irwin council president.

“There have already been 17 tornadoes in Western Pennsylvania this year, so we want to be better prepared to assist each other in the future,” Kochman said.

“If one of us is hit by a natural disaster, how are we able to help each other?” said Shari Martino, Irwin Borough manager.

If an intergovernmental agreement can be reached to provide assistance when a natural disaster strikes, “this is going to get rid of a lot of red tape,” Martino said.

Martino told council this week she had discussed the idea with officials from North Irwin and Trafford and they seemed receptive to it.

“I think it is a great idea. I don’t see us not doing this,” said Rick Burdelski, Irwin council president.

The mutual aid agreement among the municipalities also may include Manor, Kochman said.

Joe Lapia, Manor Borough manager, said the issue likely will be discussed when council meets at 6:30 p.m. July 17 at the borough building.

Kochman said she found a sample mutual aid agreement from 2021 among 21 municipalities in the North Hills Council of Governments and eight municipal authorities that sets guidelines for providing police, fire, and public works assistance to other municipalities.

They will have a better sense of the arrangement if council presidents and borough managers meet to discuss what equipment would be available and manpower and what the towns would need in terms of assistance, Martino said. There would have to be an understanding of what constitutes a natural disaster where assistance from another municipality is needed.

“It would have to be way out of the ordinary,” Burdelski said.

Councilman Sean Stitely, a deputy fire chief for Irwin, said they should reach out the two larger neighboring municipalities, North Huntingdon and Penn Township, to join in any arrangement. Those municipalities have more resources than the smaller boroughs.

North Huntingdon commissioners are scheduled to discuss the matter when the board meets at 7 p.m. Thursday.

With the discussion planned for the commissioners meeting, they will be able to gauge how much interest there is in joining that proposed initiative for providing assistance in a natural disaster, said Harry Faulk, township manager.

The councils of the municipalities would have to approve the agreement, after a review by the solicitors.

“There are a lot of details that have to be worked out,” Burdelski said.

Sharing in municipal resources in a time of disaster could occur later this month, with Irwin Borough permitting the use of a street sweeper to be used in Trafford, Peticca said.

An Irwin public works employee would operate the sweeper, Martino said.

A Trafford public works employee would accompany the Irwin employees, Peticca said.