Volunteer
Firefighter Crisis:
Your Help is Needed
When fire sirens wail in the middle of the night or even during
the day, township residents take it for granted the alarm will be
answered within minutes by Fairview's volunteer firefighters.
It's that way now and has been for decades. But time may be running
out for this volunteer force. "We are at a near-crisis level
in terms of volunteer resources," says Perry Albert, Vice-Chairman
of the Board of Supervisors. "Unless residents start volunteering
a few hours a month, the time will come when we will have to have
a paid fire department." Such a move, he says, would cost about
$1.2 million a year or the equivalent of 3 mills of real estate
tax. Fairview's current tax rate is just over 1 mill.
The President of the Fire Department said
"We have a lot of talent in Fairview. The Fire Department needs help in the support positions. All we need is for some of these residents to devote a couple of nights a month to help. They can help with maintaining fire apparatus, administration, fund-raising, accounting, and facility and equipment maintenance."
The Fire Chief said that if volunteers want to fight fires,
so much the better. Only a small segment of the Fire Department's
active 20 members actually fights fires. That's the bad news. The
good news is that structure fires in Fairview and nationwide have
been decreasing almost yearly.
About 60 percent of our responses are for vehicle accidents. The Fire Department responded to more than 540 calls
last year. The average fire department in Pennsylvania averages
about 200 to 250 alarms a year.
The Police Chief noted that the Department's Fire Police
Unit needs volunteers. Fire Police assist the regular police officers
at traffic accidents, fires, and other emergency situations. They
provide an invaluable service to the community! Without them additional
police officers would need to be hired.
The problem, according to top leaders, is the lack of
personnel during daylight hours. "Our most significant need
is between 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.," one leader said, "and we
just don't have the people available."
A small core of volunteers is devoting a large amount of
time to the company and many of them "are burning out."
The Fire Department needs a large pool of people, so that an individual would
only have to spend a few hours a week helping out.
"We all wear many hats and we all volunteer for assorted activities.
However, if the number of volunteers increased, we would be able
to operate more efficiently by allowing our firefighters to focus
their time and talent on responding to emergencies."
Residents take note: Your volunteer fire department has about
20 active firefighters and maybe 5 support personnel for a community
that has over 14,000 residents and covers 34+ square miles.
For more information contact the department at 774-3080.
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