Pocono News Section

A Street With No Name?

A Street With No Name? - Monday, July 21, 2008 at 6:08PM EST

? Reported by: Andy Mehalshick
Monday, Jul 21, 2008 @ 06:08pm EST
HAZLE TOWNSHIP, LUZERNE COUNTY- Saving lives is the mission of an effort underway in Luzerne County. It deals with street names and addresses. Emergency responders often have a tough time finding people who need help.

It's the old question, what's in a name? Well, your very life can depend on the name of your street. In Hazle Township there are 13 Main Streets! Fire officials say they must do something now, before a tragedy happens. Eyewitness News talked to a woman who had a close call.

Carolyn Nowak of Hazle Township wasn't sure an ambulance would find her home along Route 940 when she called 9-1-1. "My son became ill on a Saturday afternoon. We needed an ambulance service. I called 9-1-1, gave them a description I have given for years where to find us. Any ambulance service would know where Zola's Lounge is on 940. That wasn't quite good enough. The lady stayed on the phone bless her heart, but I was very nervous."

She had to stand in front of her house to flag down the ambulance. It took 15 minutes when it should have been more like 3 or 4 minutes. The problem is route 940 doesn't have a street name and her house does not have a street number.

It’s a big problem in Hazle Township which covers 52 square miles around the city of Hazleton. Fire Chief Scott Kostician says that has to change. "Get rid of all the duplicate names as you know. First Streets, Main Streets, many Birch, Oak. We have many duplicate streets in the township. It’s a problem," he said.

But the chief also knows changing street names could confuse some people who are used to the old way. "It’s very difficult. We have a lot of villages. All of our older population knows the villages by their names. We don't want to eliminate those names when they call for emergency services. We need to keep the coal company names, the patch towns, village names, if they have real emergencies at their house," said Kostician.

The renaming is well underway. Hazle Township residents will get a letter, if they haven't already, telling them what they should do and what to expect with new street names and addresses.

The bottom line is clearing up confusion and maybe saving lives.