By Michael N. Ciampo

Kutztown is located in the southeastern part of Pennsylvania in Berks County. The area is known as the East Penn Valley, which is a broad limestone alley and is home to the famous Crystal Cave attraction that was discovered in 1871. Some of the rock formations inside the cave are over a half million years old. At one time, it was used for crop storage and social dances in one of its large rooms. Today it is open to tourists and visitors who see upside down rock formations and enormous drop rocks. Kutztown is a residential community with light industry and is a suburb to the Reading and Allentown. It is home to Kutztown University and has the busy Interstate 78 and PA State Highway Rt. 222 running through its response area. While driving through the area you may witness horse and buggy transportation as there are Mennonites living in this Pennsylvania Dutch area. Although most might think of the people as of Dutch descendants, it is really an area with ties that lead back to German descendants who transplanted to this country in colonial times. 

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The Kutztown (PA) Fire Department was in operation in the early 1800s with just fire ladders and then a fire apparatus with local citizens gathering together to protect the town. The department was originally organized in 1908 but was not incorporated until 1918. It is a completely volunteer organization that covers the town and more than 40 square miles in the surrounding areas. The department currently operates out of its Noble Street station with a 2010 Stuphen Monarch rngine with a 1,500-gpm pump, and 1,000-gallon water tank; a 2004 Spartan/Smeal 2,500-gallon engine-tanker with a 1,500-gpm pump; a 2015 Stuphen/SVI rescue apparatus equipped with a light tower and hydraulic rescue tools and equipment; a 1994 Hummer H1 brush truck with a 500-gpm pump and 250-gallon tank; and a 2016 Ford Police Interceptor chief and command vehicle.

The department, recognized as Station 46, recently became the proud owner of a 2017 E-ONE Cyclone HM100 aerial ladder with a prepiped waterway and LED blue light illumination for better visibility when climbing at night or in smoke conditions. The rig has seating for six firefighters with five seats SCBA-equipped. The apparatus is powered by a 500-hp Cummins IS12 engine and has a Hale Qmax 2,000-gpm pump and a 500-gallon water tank. Its portable ladder inventory consists of: 35-, 28-, and 24-foot extension ladders; 16- and 14-foot roof ladders; and a 10-foot folding ladder. Since the department responds to a first-due area with everything from a historic downtown area to a college campus, rural farmland, light industrial complexes, and busy highways, the need for the apparatus to serve dual purposes is much needed. In addition, with the purchase of the multipurpose apparatus, an increase of mutual aid responses to neighboring jurisdictions has occurred.

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