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Montoursville police, fire and emergency services: ‘Working together as a team’

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Members of the Williing Hand Hose Company #1 of Montoursville and Montoursville Police had a major role in President Trumps visit to the Williamsport Regional Airport last summer with their fire company being the headquarters. From front left is Fire Chief Scott Konkle, Leut. Tyler Fetterman, Dep. Chief Jeff Hutchins, Montoursville Police Chief, Jeff Gyurina, and EMT Donald Warner. Back left is EMT Lydia Yorks, and Ivy Lunt.

With little more than a week to prepare for a presidential visit, multiple local police, fire and emergency services departments joined together and showcased Lycoming County’s enduring spirit inherent in the culture of first responders.

Scheduled for May 20, White House staff began informing law enforcement, fire departments, and medical services just one week earlier, on May 13. Within four hours on that day, the media also was informed, culminating in an avalanche of questions from the general public.

Cramming an estimated 30,000 people into a small portion of Montoursville, a borough of about 5,000, had the makings for a potential logistical nightmare, one which Jeffery Gyurina, borough police chief, said he soon realized.

“This is going to be a catastrophe is initially what I thought,” he said. “What got to be difficult is that there’s so many levels of Secret Service, and the Secret Service are only privy to certain information.”

Montoursville Fire Chief Scott Konkle said soon after the media was made aware of the event, his phone lines were “blowing up” with support from departments to manage the rally.

“I think everybody went into it thinking that the worst could happen but the outcome was better than anybody anticipated,” he said.

Far from a single body, the White House staff operated to protect information by ensuring those in control of different aspects never share information with each other.

Even questions regarding the items the public could bring through the metal detector became difficult to answer, but the Montoursville Borough police were insistent.

“Early on we decided we wanted to get as much information as possible and get it out to the public because we thought that would help control expectations,” said borough Mayor Steve Bagwell, who credited Deputy Chief Jason Bentley with his efforts.

It was pivotal for the public to be aware of how they could operate to make things move smoothly, said Bentley.

“From our point of view, we tried to put ourselves in a position of not only the people who live in the community who don’t plan to attend, but the people who do plan to attend and those who plan to protest,” he said.

Writing down questions he received from the public, he went to the many meetings with the intent of getting as much information from the President Donald Trump campaign and Secret Service.

His social media posts made a big difference in notifying the public on ways of managing visitors numbering three times the town’s population, said Bagwell.

More than 17 hours were spent planning every aspect of the event, said Gyurina.

The inner layer of the hanger where President Trump would speak would be monitored by the Secret Service, followed by state police controlling the mid-level area, and the borough would be responsible for the outer perimeter and traffic, he said.

Area law enforcement as far as Danville gladly paid for some of their officers to help Montoursville. About 14 officers offered aid to the borough, said Gyurina.

Pulling from a large bank of resources also were Capt. Sherman D. Shadle and Lts. James Warner and Gregory Watson, who with other local police forces played a pivotal role. Those included Williamsport police and the Lycoming County Sheriff’s Office.

“We had 71 police officers from Lycoming County who were assigned to the detail,” said Shadle. “We had a lot of surveillance setup around the entire airport property to lock it down as much as we could. … essentially, it was many different resources and Lycoming County, working together as a team to ensure the safety of the President.”

Several contingency plans also were put into place for protesters or activists, who were allowed to occupy Jordan Street.

“They wanted to have their signs and be able to yell at people going in … and we wanted to allow them the right to do that,” said Shadle.

The buses transporting people from the Lycoming Mall, organized by the White House staff, were key in preventing traffic gridlock.

“I was surprised how orderly the people were,” he said. “It went smoother than I could have dreamed of, honestly.”

The mayor said he also asked the vendors who follow President Trump rallies selling their wares how much trash to expect after the event.

One vendor advised him to supply garbage bags on poles and signs.

“People will use them. The communities that don’t do that, there’s a big mess,” Bagwell was told.

As the President began to speak, there was “a buzz of excitement” inside the hangar, Shadle said.

But another issue emerged. The hangar was hot, and many people had been in it for several hours after standing in line in the hot sun.

“The heat definitely took its toll on people,” said David Warner, Montoursville emergency medical technician.

In all, 22 patient contacts were made, and six of those were taken to the hospital, he said.

“There were multiple calls, but it turned out to be a lot of people calling in for the same person,” said Ivy Lunt, Montoursville EMT.

Once a system was worked out to determine which patients had been seen, EMTs relaxed, said Warner.

“We eventually got teams worked out and got the communication all figured out and all that subsided pretty quickly,” he said.

The public’s appreciation for their services was gracious, said Lunt.

“There was a lot of respect from the public, that I honestly didn’t really expect and I was amazingly surprised,” she said.

The Montoursville Fire Department, along with many others including those from Jersey Shore, Williamsport and Plunketts Creek, helped with crowd control. Others were on standby for other needs.

“Most people parked at the mall like they were supposed to and took the buses,” said Jeff Hutchins, deputy fire chief at Montoursville. “We had very minimal issues with anybody in town, but because of the chance of what might happen, we had crews on staff.”

Once President Trump boarded Air Force One and left Montorsville, Hutchins said the security relaxed, “like poof.”

“Everything is concentrated on the POTUS,” he said. “Once he was secure in the plane, the gates were all open and there were no more restrictions.”

Far from a mad dash to the door, people conducted themselves well and filtered out in all directions.

“At times, law enforcement gets a bad rap,” said Fire Chief Konkle. “But to me, they jumped in and did what needed to be done just to get people out and put them onto the buses. It was smooth.”

All involved agreed that the rally went according to plan and even better than many anticipated.

“Everybody here put politics aside,” said Bagwell. “It was just getting people in and out safely. Nobody cared whether you were a protester or whether you’re here to visit Trump. It didn’t matter.”

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