Catasauqua Councilman Eugene Schlegel recently asked Catasauqua Council to remove the remains of shelters constructed by vagrants along the banks of the Lehigh River in Catasauqua.

The shelters, built by vagrants, could be viewed from the Race Street bridge.

Although the area is owned by the borough, it is hard to access.

Over time, the vagrants were encouraged to move on, but the shelters remained.

Many years ago, one vagrant started a fire, which challenged local firefighters.

In a twofold effort to prevent another brush fire and to discourage vagrants from returning, borough Fire Chief Richard Hertzog volunteered to get debris removed from the area.

Hertzog cleared the trespass with the Norfolk and Southern Railroad, which owns the property needed to access the areas.

It was not an easy task, but Hertzog and Assistant Chief Bryan Williams spent a recent Saturday morning cleaning up the area.

"I think it looks much better now and you can't see anything from the bridge," Hertzog said as they cleared plastic tarps and trash from the wooded area.

Saturday is not a day off for firefighters. The team responded to a call at Hartzell's Pharmacy before the day was done. The remaining debris could be a nice high school community service project.