United States (Pennsylvania) - Wednesday's 911 call about an overturned boat in the Susquehanna River wasn't the first time someone mistook the same concrete slab for an emergency. So Paul Froutz, Northumberland County's public safety director, is initiating talks with the state Fish and Boat Commission to see what can be done about the protruding intake to the city of Sunbury's water supply. It happens a couple times a year, that someone driving along Route 11 on Monroe Township side of the Susquehanna River mistakes the concrete intake for a capsized boat. They call 911.

Emergency personnel and vehicles are dispatched -- like they were just before noon Wednesday, when seven rescue vehicles and 15 first-responders arrived.

"People are always mistaking it for something," Sunbury Fire Chief Chad Betts said.

It's been marked with a buoy, but the buoy was mistaken for some part of a boat, he said.

"If someone calls in a boat, we have to believe them," Froutz said. "The one time we don't will be the one time it is."

Dean Weirick, Sunbury's first assistant fire chief, said the department responded with four units, the Rescue Hose Company brought a boat, the Upper Augusta Fire Company arrived and Shamokin Dam brought a truck and a boat. In all, about 15 people responded.

"We get a lot out on the river calls," he said.

The problem is, every time you send an emergency vehicle out, you risk an accident, Betts said. "And people don't take a real close look at something before they call -- especially in that spot."

The spot is along Route 11, about a quarter-mile from the Northumberland Boat Club. Looking out over the river, one would see the Riverfront Apartments on the Sunbury side, Weirick said.

Ideally, Weirick said, people should stop and look at what they're calling about first.

"They should stay there and verify it," he said. "Unless it's not safe to pull off the road."

Wednesday's call came from a 717 area code, Weirick said, adding, "They probably weren't familiar with the area."

Fixing the problem won't be easy, though.

"If the Fish and Boat Commission paints it orange," Froutz said, "all that will happen will be that someone will call in and say there's an orange overturned boat."

Written by The Daily Item