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LIBERTY -- Liberty's fire chief emphasized challenges in keeping both first responders and the public safe during emergencies, noting that one of his department's vehicles has been struck several times by negligent drivers.
Fire Chief Doug Theobald, during his report at Monday's meeting, recalled the details of an Aug. 15 spill that closed Tibbetts Wick Road for eight hours, covering the road in a flour-like substance, a byproduct of steelmaking that was being hauled by a private company.
Theobald said the department's on-duty personnel, himself and two mutual aid departments assisted in traffic control.
Theobald said that part of the spill brought him to a point he wanted to make, noting news stories about fire and sheriff apparatuses being struck by motorists on a "regular basis."
"In the last five months, we have had our rescue truck hit three times on emergency scenes; on the night of that spill, we had to block both northbound and southbound ramps," said Theobald, who added they put up emergency and road-closed signs. "We had a driver drive around the vehicle and strike the vehicle as they're coming by."
Theobald said the struck vehicle wasn't one of their own, but one they had on scene to block traffic, and the motorist drove all the way up the ramp until the car stopped rolling.
"I'm pretty confident they would have driven away, if the car had stayed running," Theobald said. "Just a few weeks ago, in one of the storms we had, we had our rescue truck blocking a live wire scene and the vehicle ran into the back of it, backed up and drove off."
Theobald said first responders face the challenge of protecting their own crews' lives and the public, adding that he "didn't have an easy answer."
"One of the things we've just recently seen departments beginning to do, collectively coming together to purchase blocking vehicles," Theobald said. "I mean, they drive around our cones, they drive over our cones, they drive around our emergency road closed signs -- it really doesn't make a difference, except for when you put something so big that they can't get around it."
Theobald said he was pointing it out because the township's road and fire department manage situations daily, and people are "totally disregarding" the safety procedures put in place.
Theobald said the problem is a nationwide issue, but he wanted to bring it to officials' attention that one of their fire vehicles has been struck three times in 2026 by motorists.
Trustee Devon Stanley proposed the department consider using flares, as it looks like fire.
"You can have two big barriers and they'll drive around; they'll squeak through them, they'll scrape their cars to get through them," Stanley said. "I do really believe that with flares, for whatever reason, people are afraid of things that look explosive; they don't mind objects that look like pieces of wood or plastic, but when you use sparks, for some reason, they stay away."
Theobald said the department used to have access to railroad flares, but it was something he would certainly look into, with Stanley adding that it would probably be less expensive than using vehicles.