Contact Information
5490 Progress Blvd.
Bethel Park, PA 15102
Fax: 412-831-3038
email: tcsems@tcsems.org
Emergency Numbers
412.833.2000 or 911
South Park Police
Dial 911
Upper St. Clair Police
412.833.7500 or 911
Snowstorm February 2010
Tri-Community South EMS entered service on December 31, 1977, on the eve of what would be, to that time, the snowiest month ever recorded in Allegheny County since records started being kept in 1883.
In that first month of operation, the new service answered 242 calls with two ambulance crews in service at a time, since the system owned only two ambulances. In the process, the system developed procedures and policies through hard-won experience for responding in severe weather conditions.
Over the next thirty-two years Tri-Community South updated and refined its severe weather operations plans in experiences like the greatest single-day snowstorm recorded in the area on March 13, 1993, and the greatest single-day rainstorm ever recorded in the area on September 17, 2004. In February, 2010, the system's operations would be put to the test.
The snowstorm of February 5th and 6th, 2010 dropped just four inches less snow than the March 13, 1993 snowstorm, and it was followed on February 9th and 10th by another that added nearly eight additional inches. By the end of the month, the record monthly total from January of 1978 would be surpassed by eight and a half inches. During the month, Tri-Community South answered 540 calls, with up to five ambulance crews in service at a time during the worst weather from February 6th to February 10th, plus a supervisor in a response vehicle to assist crews when access and egress was difficult. The system's staff worked extended hours throughout the emergency. During the peak five days of the back-to-back storms, the staff put in an additional 198 hours of duty to protect the community. By the end of the month, the total had risen to 302 hours.
Tri-Community South's crews reached every person who called for help at every time throughout the storm. Though the weather conditions extended the response times, a crew was at the scene of most calls within 15 minutes. Crews shoveled and salted their way to the scene when needed, in some cases walking up to a quarter-mile through the snow to reach the scene. In a few cases, the crews dragged downed trees off the roadway in order to get through. The four-wheel drive supervisor vehicle was used to get patients from the scene to the ambulance where conditions required it. Tri-Community South remained self-sufficient throughout the emergency. During the first storm, the system responded to 76 calls in 48 hours. Of these, only two calls were turned over to mutual aid services, while Tri-Community South responded to seven requests for mutual aid to other services.
The call volume during the storm was unusually high partly because of the extended power outages caused by the downed trees and power lines. People who depend upon electrically-powered oxygen concentrator units needed assistance with supplemental oxygen until their home health care provider could provide an alternate supply. Tri-Community South responded to a half-dozen calls for such assistance on the morning of February 6th alone. In addition, the snow caused some fall injuries and people attempting to shovel snow had some cardiac emergencies. In every case, Tri-Community South responded, and every patient who needed to be transported was transported safely to the appropriate destination. As was the case during the December 13, 2009 ice storm, a similarly disruptive event, Tri-Community South experienced no accidents to its vehicles.