Trying to Stay Ahead of the Ice
By MIKE STRUG
Updated 12:14 AM EST, Wed, Jan 7, 2009
Just as they did out on the public streets and highways, with word of a storm coming, they began salting the streets and sidewalks at Main Street, a sprawling strip mall along Rt. 100 in Exton, Pa., even before the first drop fell Tuesday evening.
Now they've got to stay ahead of it.
"The stores usually close around 10, but we have three restaurants in the complex that don’t close until 2 a.m. because they have bars in them. So we have to stay here until everybody’s outta here to make sure all of the patrons get out of here safely,” Paul Egrie said as his team spread salt on sidewalks and road surfaces in the complex."
Egrie says they've already spread some 50-tons of salt on the parking lot, and like homeowners, they're responsible for the sidewalks as well. There they've used more than 150 bags of calcium.
"I actually slipped and fell one time myself. You have to stay on top of all of it – the sidewalks, the bricks, the parking lot. It only takes one slip and fall to cause a catastrophe," said Egrie.
And that's just what conditions were like at the strip mall. It's just as potentially dangerous on the roads, as West Whiteland Police had already discovered Tuesday night.
"I just heard an officer tell me that he went near one of our park areas and almost took out a section of fence because the roads were icy – some of the secondaries. So we are starting to see that on our back roads,” said Officer Mark Meshurle.
The officer offered this advice to motorists: “Be very careful! Be very, very careful! If you don’t have to go out, please stay in.”
First Published: Jan 6, 2009 11:29 PM EST
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