I've written about this several times, but, every municipal budget season, it comes up again. The East Greenville, Pennsburg, and Red Hill fire companies will have to merge.
No.
If you want to be a municipal official, a basic knowledge of the emergency services every municipality is required to provide, by state law, is needed. Then, a basic knowledge and understanding of the services provided to your municipality is needed.
Don't guess or assume you, as an elected official, know everything about your emergency services.
The three fire companies I mentioned above have, at least, one piece of apparatus that the other two don't have and a variety of equipment that the others don't duplicate. That is a conscious effort by the companies to not duplicate pieces of equipment that can be shared.
Pennsburg Fire Company responded to 343 calls in 2023. I am sure East Greenville and Red Hill Fire Companies responded to calls that also fall on the brink of an average of one every day. Can you imagine if one or two fire companies were called upon to answer 600 – 1,200 calls per year? I don't know if there are that many volunteers available for that kind of workload.
Think about it. If we close two out of three of the fire companies, we'll automatically add 10-15 minutes to the response time for volunteers to drive the extra distance to the firehouse, and where will the help come from for large fires? Instead of help coming from one mile down the road, we'll just add 20 minutes or more to the emergency response. Remember, a fire can double in size every three minutes.
So let's go to paid firefighters. Four shifts, four firefighters per shift at $50,000 each plus benefits ($1,000,000), equipment ($1,500.000), maintenance and utilities ($250,000), and … you get the picture. Four fighters will staff one truck per shift – need more? Call your neighbors for help.
What about the taxpayers? In addition to the added danger of extended response times, are those who hold the purse strings aware of the effect their local fire companies have on the insurance rates that residents, businesses, and industries pay each year?
For instance things like fire company equipment and its condition, response times, the number of volunteers responding to calls, the training and certification levels of those volunteers, fire hydrants, distance from the nearest fire company and more factor into insurance rates.
Yes, I do believe that every elected municipal official should meet with their local volunteers and learn about their real value. Better yet, join them in some capacity – they always need firefighters, fire police, fundraisers, business-savvy volunteers, and more. Not every volunteer has to respond to emergency calls; help is needed in so many ways.
And, to the volunteers, when you meet with your local elected officials show them a copy of your latest Relief Association paperwork so they can see the effect your company has on taxpayer insurance policies. It is also important for them to know what equipment is no longer being insured or being insured at higher rates because of age, technology, or state mandate.
There's more to the local fire companies than shiny red trucks.