Evan Brandt

The Mercury, Pottstown, Pa.

(MCT)

Sep. 18—POTTSTOWN — Just over a year since West Pottsgrove Township suspended West End Fire Company from providing fire services and hired Pottstown to do that, the borough and township have inked a five-year contract to continue that arrangement.

West Pottsgrove suspended West End Fire Company as its fire services provider in August of 2021. The act came in the wake of months of disputes between the two entities, primarily over money, including a state attorney general investigation of the fire company’s finances.

At the same time, the township commissioners voted unanimously to instead pay the Pottstown Fire Department for 18 months of fire services provided by its four volunteer fire companies.

At the time, the payments to Pottstown were estimated to cost West Pottsgrove taxpayers between $135,000 and $140,000, about the same amount the township had paid to West End.

According to the new contract, adopted unanimously without comment at the Sept. 12 borough council meeting, the township will pay just over $91,000 per year for fire protection, although the final payment will be adjusted to reflect the Pottstown Fire Department’s actual costs for the year to provide fire protection in the township.

A calculation sheet accompanying the contract indicates that so far in 2022, West Pottsgrove has had 49 fire calls, compared to the 741 in the borough.

That means so far this year, West Pottsgrove calls comprise 6 percent of the department’s total call volume, despite being 16 percent of the total combined population of the two municipalities.

Additionally, the contract indicates West Pottsgrove will additionally be responsible for an annual payment of $30,180 to pay a share of the Pottstown Fire Department’s workers compensation insurance costs.

The new contract, which was approved by the West Pottsgrove Township Commissioners at their Aug. 3 meeting, goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2023.

Last year, a steering committee was formed to try to work out the differences between the West End Fire Company and the township. The township’s signing of a five-year agreement with the borough suggests those differences remain unresolved.

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The New York Museum of Transportation, 6393 East River Road, will host a fleet of antique fire trucks on September 18, thelcn.com reported.

The Genesee Chapter of the Society for the Preservation and Appreciation of Antique Motorized Fire Apparatus in America will have its restored firefighting equipment on display. Resplendent in bright red paint and polished metal work, the vintage vehicles will delight visitors and bring back memories of times past, the report said.

Visitors will be able to discover the difference between a “fire truck” and a “fire engine,” and find out why firemen wear red suspenders.

Trolley rides will also be operating at the Museum of Transportation.

A Lauderhill (FL) Fire Rescue truck has been left damaged after someone shot at it while crews responded to a call, WSVN.com reported.

A paramedic saw the gunman, and it turned into quite a scare for the first responders, the report said.

On Friday, the crew of Rescue 30 of Lauderhill Fire Rescue’s fire truck was en route to help a person who was suffering chest pains when it was shot multiple times in the area of Northwest 19th Street and 31st Avenue, according to the report.

Three paramedics were said to have been inside the truck at the time of the shooting. The truck had to stop its run and another truck was called, delaying the response time for the person with chest pains.

According to authorities, the damage the truck sustained was to the engine compartment, near the radiator. After the shooting, Rescue 30 went to a fire station and called police. It has since been towed away as evidence, the report said.

Apparatus ideas BOB VACCARO

The Hauppauge Fire Department, located on Long Island, NY, was created in 1931 at the direction of 14 charter members. Since that time, the community has grown immensely.

It now has five schools, strip shopping centers, restaurants, and hotels and is home to the Hauppauge Industrial Park, the nation’s second largest, with more than 1,000 businesses employing more than 55,000 people. Add this to the 7,300 households and a population of more than 20,000 residents, and you have a response district larger than some major U.S. cities.

The Hauppauge Fire District had kept pace with the community’s growth by being proactive in apparatus purchases in the past several years.

“When it came to designing a new heavy rescue for the department, we wanted to make a great deal of improvements,” Louis Zarra, former chief and present fire commissioner, says. “We were replacing our older rescue, which served the department well since 1999. It was a Spartan Saulsbury with a walk-in body, which we really liked.”

Zarra says the fire district along with the apparatus committee, comprised of senior members, former chiefs, and senior officers, started the design process back in 2017 and looked at several vehicles built with the walk-around concept.

“We wanted these individuals to share their knowledge and opinions so we would have a vehicle built that would work for everyone,” Zarra says. “Eventually, we decided to go, once again, with a walk-in box and the newer Spartan cab and chassis, which worked for us in the older vehicle.”

He says the larger Spartan Gladiator cab gave the department more room and safety features not afforded in the older Spartan unit. Since Saulsbury was no longer in business, Zarra says the department had to find a new builder for the body.

“We went for Rescue 1 as the builder of the box,” he says. “Rescue 1 is known in the industry for building strong rescue bodies and is also know for its superb tool mounting, which is performed right at the factory.”

As the Rescue 1 manufacturing plant is only two hours from Hauppauge, it was easy for the committee to travel for inspections when necessary, he says, noting that COVID-19 prevented a lot of in-person meetings, forcing a number of Zoom calls a