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From the Energy Committee |
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Norwich Happenings
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Written by Ames Byrd
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Are you concerned that you are using too much heating fuel? Here is a simple way to determine whether your home is reasonably tight or could use some help. Call your fuel provider and get the number of gallons of home-heating fuel or propane that you used last season. Call the lister’s office and get the number of square feet of heated living space. For home-heating fuel a good ratio is 3 to 1. For example if you have a 3000 sq ft home you should be burning 1000 gallons or less. If you heat with propane the ration is 2 to 1, as propane has fewer BTUs per gallon. A cord of wood is equivalent to 170 gallons of heating oil and 240 gallons of propane. These ratios represent what we feel are adequate numbers, but you can do even better by further insulating your house. My house currently is 3 to 1. After implementing the recommendations of an audit I am sure I can get it down to 4 to 1.
If you decide you need an audit you can call Energy Smart at (802) 476-2093 or call SERG in Thetford at 785- 4126. There was legislation last year that passed in Vermont to help with house envelopes. The plan is in the works so there may be some incentives soon. Here are a couple of energy-saving tips: if you have hotwater baseboard heat, Simple Energy of Lebanon, (603) 298-7200, sells a controller made by Intellidyne for $400 that guarantees a ten percent reduction in fuel usage. For do-it-yourselfers, go to www.aceee.org and order “Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings.” We can also do a house call to help you with all this. Give me a call is you need any further assistance at 649-1269. |
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Norwich Happenings
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Written by Stephen Leinoff
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“Vermont 911, what is your emergency?” the dispatcher asks.
“Send help…my daughter is choking!” you say frantically. “Where are you calling from?” the dispatcher calmly answers.
“1276 Beaver Valley Road. Send help! She is choking!”
“Help is on the way…is she breathing at all?”
“Yes…She is wheezing and trying to talk… Hurry, hurry!”
“I want you to stay calm and I will give you first aid instructions.”
The dispatcher begins giving medical instructions and passes the call information to his colleague. He broadcasts a message over the emergency frequency, summoning the Hanover ambulance and Norwich Fast Squad to your address.
Several minutes pass, and after speaking with you, the dispatcher is confident your child is moving air. The fast squad members, police officer and ambulance are en route to your home. The first one arrives in the area and radios a question to the dispatcher: “Norwich Fast Squad is in the area. We are not sure which house it is. There are no numbers visible.”
The dispatcher replies, “I have the caller on the phone…I will ask…Norwich Fast Squad, the house is on the right side of the road; white with blue trim.” In an emergency seconds count. Emergency responders are often frustrated by not being able to quickly identify the location of the incident. Lack of a visible house number is often the problem. Please take the following steps to help emergency responders reach your location in an emergency:
Street numbers should be posted on the building, facing the road. For buildings that are not visible from the road, an additional street number should be placed where the driveway intersects the main road. House numbers should be at least four inches tall, clearly visible, and high enough to not be obscured by snow.
Mailbox numbers are not always effective. Sometimes they are visible from only one side. Occasionally mailboxes are clustered, and even and odd numbers are mixed, which can create confusion.
VT Enhanced 911 has a locatable address system. The address where the call originates displays on a map in the dispatch center. If you are unsure of your VT 911 address please contact us for assistance. Cell phone information will not display an address. Dispatchers always ask for the address. Many emergency calls are not placed from the scene of an incident. For example, a family member goes to a neighbor’s house to report a fire.
Make sure that property managers, alarm monitoring companies, guests, baby sitters, and house sitters know the address. VT-911 has been in existence since 1994; it was then that locatable street numbers were assigned. Most people have posted the correct numbers. There are still people who have not removed the old numbers or posted new numbers.
Do not assume “everyone knows where I live.” We have many new members who are not familiar with where “everyone lives.” Our primary ambulance service is from Hanover. Hartford and Lebanon may respond to Norwich when Hanover is unavailable.
Emergency responders are committed to providing rapid and quality care. Properly displayed street numbers help us provide rapid service. We are happy to answer questions about safety and how to display street numbers. For non-emergencies, we can be reached at 649-1133 or
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. Phil Dechert serves as Norwich’s VT 911 coordinator. He can be reached at 649-1204 or
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. Phil can assist you in determining the correct 911 address for your property, explaining the numbering system, and making corrections to the 911 system. |
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Norwich Happenings
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Written by Douglas A. Robinson
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WOW! Another year gone already! I hope everyone is ready for 2009. 2008 has been a busy year for the Norwich Police Department. We will have hosted 12 public “Police Forums” (one a month), which included one open house of the police station. The Norwich Police Department will continue hosting the forums the first Wednesday of every month at 6PM to discuss any issues about the police or town you would like, unless otherwise posted.
The Norwich Police Department is currently fully staffed with four full-time certified officers and one fulltime administrative assistant. Your officers are Officer Mike Scruggs, Officer Chuck Rataj, Officer Frank Schippert, myself and Administrative Assistant Judy Powell. Stop in anytime to look around, introduce yourself and just say “Hi.”
We have our MDTs (Mobile Data Terminals) up and running in each of the marked cruisers and the officers have each received training in their use. Technology is an amazing thing. We are trying to keep up with the request for “Directed Patrols”—these are designated patrols in areas where we have received complaints. Any time we receive multiple complaints for any particular area we try to patrol that area more often. Hopefully you will be able to request those patrols by accessing a form from our website at www.norwichvtpolice.org. Take a look at it sometime. Keeping in mind that it is a work in progress, there are some very good resources linked to it.
Our 2nd Annual Lights For Visibility program was another great success. We handed out glow sticks to trickor- treaters throughout the month of October to keep them visible while they were out trick-or-treating. We handed out over 250 glow sticks.
The Norwich Police was given a grant to fund an officer to enforce motor vehicle and occupant safety laws. You may have noticed an extra officer on duty at times, working from the grant. Norwich police officers typically investigate 100-plus accidents per year. At the rate we are going now we may be seeing as much as a 20 percent decrease in the amount of accidents in Norwich. Thanks to everyone who has been driving safely and defensively, and following the traffic laws.
With the addition of the fire chief in the police department building, we were quickly running out of parking spaces. We have begun to expand our parking lot with the addition of approximately six to seven spaces and one designated handicapped space. The expanded lot now is gravel and we are hoping to have it paved next year.
As always please feel free to stop in to the police station anytime if you have any questions, concerns, suggestions or would just like to look around. Feel free to contact me or any of my officers at the station. You can always reach me at 649-1460 or e-mail me at
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.
Have a Happy and Safe Holiday Season.
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