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Allentown committee forwards $18,000 Norfolk Southern grant for HAZMAT gear; reviews county hazard-mitigation plan
Summary
A committee of the Allentown City Council voted to forward a supplemental $18,000 Norfolk Southern grant appropriation for hazardous-materials equipment to the full council and reviewed the countyhazard-mitigation plan update; committee members discussed recent fires and department needs.
A committee of the Allentown City Council on the evening agenda considered two public-safety items: forwarding a supplemental appropriation of $18,000 from the Norfolk Southern Rail Safety First grant to buy hazardous-materials equipment for the Allentown Fire Department, and reviewing a proposed resolution to adopt the Lehigh Valley 2024 Hazard Mitigation Plan.
Deputy Chief Matt Ahear, the citydeputy chief and emergency-management coordinator, said the hazard-mitigation plan is an update to a document first adopted in 2008 and revised every five years. "This plan has been adopted since 02/2008. It's nothing new. It's just updated every 5 years," Ahear said, adding that adoption is commonly a condition for grant funding and maintains the city's planning relationship with the county and FEMA.
On the grant item, a committee member read Bill 19 aloud: the proposed amendment to the 2025 fire-department budget to appropriate $18,000 from the Norfolk Southern Rail Safety First grant. The funds are described in the bill as intended to purchase hazardous-materials equipment, including meters and foam, for incidents at the railyard and other hazardous-materials responses. The presenter noted the award is $2,000 larger than a similar grant received last year and that equipment purchased will outfit the department's hazardous-materials team and also be deployable to highway or other city responses.
The committee voted to forward Bill 19 to the full council for consideration. The motion carried on an oral "aye" voice vote in committee and was moved forward to the full council for final action.
Committee members also discussed recent fires and department capacity. The Fire Chief (name not specified) described an early-morning structure fire at 119 North Thirteenth Street that prompted a third-alarm response, injured two firefighters and displaced one or two residents. "It was a little bit of a headache with how it continued to flow from the basement," the chief said, and added that third alarms are often called to secure manpower rather than only reflecting fire intensity. The chief and Deputy Chief Ahear said the departmentnoted housing conditions in some structures can increase displacements and complicate responses.
Councilmember Miss Safa praised the department and urged colleagues to "pay attention to the budget and what the chief needs," saying the department deserves support for equipment and personnel. The committee had no substantive questions on the hazard-mitigation resolution; Deputy Chief Ahear said the county released the updated document in 2024 and the city last adopted the plan in 2019. The resolution to adopt the Lehigh Valley 2024 Hazard Mitigation Plan was presented for committee review and is scheduled for a vote before the full council; the committee took no final vote on the resolution at this meeting.
Members did not propose further amendments to the grant appropriation in committee. The committee adjourned after the items and the grants/resolution were placed for action or review at the next full-council meeting.
