Stolen Traffic Light Generators Cause Emmaus to Remove Rest

Emmaus Borough Councilman Nathan Brown got some upsetting news when he checked in with the Emmaus Fire Department Wednesday morning to see how the guys are holding up in the days following Hurricane Sandy’s visit.

Brown learned from Emmaus Fire Chief Jim Reiss that the two new generators that the borough had purchased for the fire department last year had been stolen. They were being used to power traffic lights in the borough and the chains that were used to attach them to the traffic light poles had been cut.

According to Brown, Reiss had told him that the generators were taken at about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday. As a result of the theft, Brown said, the borough decided to remove the remaining four generators powering traffic lights in the borough.

The borough is not legally obligated to power the traffic lights, Brown explained. It had merely been using the generators in the name of public safety.

Brown said that as far as he knows, the only traffic light in the borough that was still functioning is at Cedar Crest and Chestnut streets. He said that light may be powered by the emergency power at the Weis Market.

According state law, when a traffic light is dark, it becomes a four-way stop sign.