East Pikeland Police Honor Residents, Officer for Response to Fire

On a mid-January afternoon, two residents from Peter Dehaven Drive reacted quickly to help out a neighbor. 

Christine Monroe and Randy Ferree were honored, along with Officer Richard Fagley of East Pikeland Police Department, for their responses to what could have turned out to be a tragic situation in the 100 block of Peter Dehaven Drive. 

A neighbor had discarded hot ashes in a trash can, and police were quickly called by Monroe, who saw flames coming from the can. Ferree worked to shovel snow on the fire, and when Fagley arrived, he used his 20-pound fire extinguisher to douse the growing flames. The siding of the home was beginning to burn at that time. Very quickly afterward, the fire company arrived, and they were able to get everyone out of the home, including two children. 

Police Chief James Franciscus said at Tuesday's East Pikeland Board of Supervisors meeting that in this day and age, it was nice to see people who weren't afraid to get invovled. 

The homeowner was also at the meeting, and he said he was grateful to the neighbors who helped make what really could have been a bad situation just a minor incident. 

Monroe and Ferree were honored by the board of supervisors, while Fagley received honors from the police department for his quick response. 

In other police news, East Pikeland will institute Project Lifesaver, geared toward residents with special needs who may go missing. The program provides wristwatch-like devices that work as beacons to help find missing people. Project Lifesaver will come to the township thanks to a grant, and township personnel will be trained to help out. 

No one else uses Project Lifesaver in Chester County, and the police worked with assisted living homes in the area to form a committee along with the Kimberton Fire Company to get the program in place.