Addison Township Fire Chief Jerry Morawski, three other members of the department and a local resident spent an hour and half on May 4, trimming overgrown trees on the property of a township resident.

“We had an older gentleman who was having some medical emergencies,” the chief said. “When we got there we had a lot of difficulty getting the ambulance up to his home. We finally got him to the hospital and then when we came back we asked the neighbors if we could trim the trees along his driveway because it kinda’ went on their right-of-way.”

Now, if they need to go back to that home, the township’s emergency vehicles will not get scratched up or be obstructed.

“Sometimes when we go out, our vehicles break branches. This wasn’t the first time this has happened,” Morawski said, adding he would like driveways to have a 10-foot wide by 14-foot high clearance.

“The gentleman we helped last week was elderly and couldn’t trim the trees. For you folks who can, give the fire department a hand and make sure your driveways are clear. Some folks drive these little cars in and out not realizing that if an ambulance comes up, we’re there to save lives and time is critical. Probably two or three times a year there are times when we cannot even make it up the driveway to the home with the ambulance. When we get there the residents ask, ‘Why are you guys parked on the road?’ And, we tell them, ‘We can’t get up here.’ And, then they usually take care of it.”

With the newer homes, he said driveways must be a certain width when installed. “But what happens is pretty soon the owners plant trees along the driveway and in 15 years they over grow the road. It looks pretty, but the damage to our trucks over the years is amazing. Rear-view mirrors broken off. Ladders broken, scratches up and down the trucks. Lights on top being broken off when they hit a branch. Numerous issues with that happening over the years.” — Don Rush