REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. - A record number of emergency calls in July for the Rehoboth beach volunteer fire company. That includes both ems and fire. The numbers in August were very similar.
Over 900 EMS calls and over 200 fire calls were made to the Rehoboth beach volunteer fire company in the last two months. According to the Rehoboth Beach Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce there is a direct connection to the spike in calls and the many visitors coming to the beaches during the summer. More people means more traffic on the roads and that presents more of a challenge in responding to the calls.
"We have had several incidents where we've had to completely turn around and go around a block and find some other way to get to the ems call and that's really not a situation that we want to be in. We already combat very heavy traffic, a lot of bikes, and pedestrians and all that as we safely approach these scenes. We need to get there." said Kent Swarts.
There is one specific vehicle that makes the presence a problem for first responders, delivery trucks.
While the fire department would like to see some restrictions imposed on delivery trucks and when they're able to come into downtown Rehoboth, Carol Everhart says that it's just not plausible for local businesses, "I remember someone saying, 'the day we don't have a delivery truck problem in Rehoboth is the day we will really have a problem in Rehoboth because that means you don't need the deliveries. That means you don't have the visitation.' "
Mary Loughran, cashier for Devil Dave's, said, "Our deliveries come at all different times, especially, I mean the people that deliver for us, they're busy all day long. They have to hit so many different stops So sometimes they don't get here till later in the afternoon so it would definitely affect our inventory."
Commissioners are expected to discuss these issues at their next meeting on September sixth at 9 am.
