City cleans up after ice storm; two emergency shelters available
City of Fort Wayne crews from throughout the organization have been working diligently to cope with the aftermath of the ice storm. Ice began falling about midnight Thursday and Public Works sent forty trucks out salting and plowing soon thereafter.
“Although the City and County were under a Level II Snow Emergency most of the day,” said Mayor Tom Henry, "our crews were successful in clearing most of the main and secondary roads by mid-afternoon, so we lifted that emergency. People should still use caution on residential streets and particularly pay attention to where there may be downed power lines or tree limbs.”
Parks, City Utilities and Street Department crews were all devoted to clearing roads, picking up limbs, and responding to the most volatile safety situations. All crews prioritize public safety and handle the downed power lines before anything like fallen trees or branches. Crews will be out again tomorrow working to provide appropriate response to the storm's damages.
The City is offering three free tree-branch drop-off sites for Fort Wayne residents at:
'¢ City Biosolids Facility Compost Site, 6210 Lake Ave., from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday
'¢ Shoaff Park Christmas Tree drop-off location by Conklin Pavilion during park hours
'¢ Tillman Park by the ball fields during park hours
For a nominal fee, residents can also take limbs and debris to the National Serv-All compost site, 6231 MacBeth Rd. It is open 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
By 3:30 today, 311 call takers had a single-day record number of phone calls with 4,789 inquiries. 911 dispatched 1,250 police and fire runs between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m. 911 and non-emergency police lines took 2,299 calls in that same amount of time. The 911 communications center kept the third shift dispatchers over for a few hours this morning to handle the volume of calls from residents. The average number of daily calls to 911 in November was 1,295.
“Our 311 call takers handled nearly 5,000 phone calls today and 911 dispatchers had an amazing volume of callers,” said Mayor Henry. “With so many residents losing their electricity, all sorts of problems and challenges appeared, and people had nowhere to turn. We are very pleased that our call center staff could handle that tremendous volume of inquiries and requests for assistance.”
The 311 Call Center will be open until midnight today to take non-emergency calls.
Mayor Henry encouraged those residents who need to seek shelter to do so at one of the Red Cross shelter locations: the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum and South Side High School. “Beyond the official shelters, I encourage businesses and churches to see if it's possible to allow patrons to stay a little longer, to have a warm drink or sit a while and get warm,” he said. “This is an unusual situation and the extra time to warm up can really make a difference.”
Mayor Henry also thanked all of the City employees who had been working around the clock to keep residents safe. “Some of these folks came in Thursday and have not yet left,” he said. “The dedication of City employees makes me very proud, and I want Fort Wayne residents to know they can be proud of the way their public servants are working.”