A. Duie Pyle Driver Is National Champ

Professional truck driver Leo Flack, a driver for West Chester-based A. Duie Pyle is a National Champion. Flack and 428 other professional truck drivers traveled to Orlando Florida last week to compete in the 2011 National Truck Driving Championships. Together the competing drivers account for over 500 MILLION accident-free miles of highway driving.

Flack, driving an orange-over-black Volvo tractor trailer, went up against 46 other drivers in the 5-axle tanker division - driving away with FIRST PLACE in his division. The win also qualified him for a spot in the competition to be named 2011 Bendix National Grand Champion.

A. Duie Pyle trucks are a familiar sight along Chester County's highways and throughout the Northeast Corridor. The company has local operations in West Chester, Parkesburg and Coatesville. The company is frequently honored for its safe driving record. Among the many awards, a Pyle driver was named 2010 Truck Driver of the Year in Massachusetts.

Drought Watch Issued For Chester County

Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection today issued a drought watch for Chester and 39 other counties and more severe drought warnings for four Pennsylvania counties

According to Mike Krancer, DEP Secretary, "With the hot, dry summer, our statewide monitoring network indicates a need to take this first step, which is aimed at alerting the public and water suppliers that it makes sense to take some voluntary common sense steps to conserve," 

A drought watch declaration is the first and least severe level of the state's three drought classifications. It calls for a voluntary five-percent reduction in non-essential water use and puts large water consumers on notice to begin planning for the possibility of reduced water supplies.

A drought warning asks residents to voluntarily reduce water use by 10 to 15 percent.

Chester County's precipitation deficit over the past 90 days is 4.4 inches below normal.

According to DEP, individuals can take a number of measures around the home to conserve water, including:

• Install low-flow plumbing fixtures and aerators on faucets.
• Check for household leaks. A leaking toilet can waste up to 200 gallons of water each day.
• Take short showers instead of baths.
• Replace older appliances with high-efficiency, front-loading models that use about 30 percent less water and 40 to 50 percent less energy.
• Run dishwashers and washing machines only with full loads.
• Keep water in the refrigerator to avoid running water from a faucet until it is cold.

Additional water conservation tips and drought information can be found online at www.depweb.state.pa.us, keyword: drought.

Evacuation Order Scares Some Residents

Many televison viewers were stunned to see the broadcast of an Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) message at 12:30 p.m. today telling them to EVACUATE Chester County.

The brief message - lasting less than one minute - interupted regular programming and offered little information beyond the instructions to evacuate.

The EBS alert was the result of an explosion and fire at the Johnson Matthey Chemical Products facility on King Road in West Whiteland Township. Emergency crews responded at 10:30 a.m. to the explosion and fire of a hydrogen trailer. Originally, only the business was evacuated, but shortly after noon, the evacuation area was expanded to include homes on King Road, Ravine Road, Glen Loch Way and Lewis Lane.

It remains unclear how or why local TV stations escalated it to a county-wide evacuation order shortly after that.

Apparently, there were enough alarmed people in West Goshen Township that the township's automatic phone notification system (usually used during snow emergencies) was pressed into service by Township Manager Casey LaLonde to inform his township's residents that the emergency evacuations were limited to West Whiteland Township.

Check out the Daily Local News for the latest details about the hazmat incident.