A spokesman for the Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety said Monday that people who are unsure about whether their official address change notices have been registered should check with the county so there are no delays in case of an emergency. Anyone without an emergency is asked to phone Dan Stevens, the call addressing coordinator, at 724-600-7312. The 911 dispatch number should be used only for emergencies. A Derry Township man questioned the readdressing project after a Feb. 11 shed fire killed some of his children’s livestock. He said he might have saved the animals if he hadn’t been on the phone with dispatchers trying to clear up where he lived. “That was enough time for me to get the rest out,” said Dean Reed. Reed said he believed seven sheep and goats died because of the confusion over whether he lived on Pittsburgh Street, his new address, or Reed Road, the former address. As part of the countywide readdressing project, which is still incomplete, new addresses for some Derry Township homes were delivered about a year ago. The project is meant to reduce or eliminate confusion about where an ambulance or fire equipment should be sent. Westmoreland County was sued in the 1990s by the estate of a New Kensington-area man who died after an ambulance was sent to the wrong address. In Reed’s case, he said he didn’t receive notice but got his new address from a township supervisor by phone after neighbors told him they received new addresses. “They need to get this thing worked out. When you’re making a massive change like this, and you don’t hear from someone, you don’t just say the hell with them,” Reed said. According to Stevens, dispatchers followed proper procedure, and Reed’s address wasn’t updated to the new one because he had not returned the card notifying him of the change. “Not speaking of this situation, but people think these cards mean nothing. They do mean something. We want to make sure we get to the right place,” Stevens said. After reviewing the 911 tape, Stevens said the response time was not delayed by the 71-second call. He said records showed the first unit arrived less than five minutes after 911 picked up Reed’s call. “They did pretty well there,” Reed said of the response time. Reed said he hoped his case would prevent a more serious loss from occurring. “That’s the thing,” he said.

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