2 more Hempfield fire companies start process to move under township management

Dave Ciarkowski, captain and president at Grapeville Fire Department, is looking forward to focusing on the work of responding to emergency calls again.

His station is one of two that have recently sent in their letters of interest toward becoming “nonchartered” under Hempfield Township’s fire department.

Once Grapeville and Adamsburg fire departments both complete the process, the township will take over management and the expenses of both stations.

They would be joining North Hempfield, the township’s only nonchartered station; and Fort Allen and Midway-St.Clair fire stations, which are now in the midst of the paperwork to become nonchartered, having sent their letters of interest earlier this year.

“They’re going to essentially take care of the bills — all that funding and the bills all off your plate — and we go back to what we should be doing,” Ciarkowski said.

“We’re constantly, just like every other department, having to try to get funds, whether it be a fish fry or some kind of a dance or something. That, and membership is always a big issue, because we need to do membership drives. It just takes a lot off your plate.”

Fire companies have shown increased interest in coming under township management ever since the leaders held a public meeting in March to discuss the future of firefighting in the region.

“It’s an exciting time for Hempfield,” said Fire Chief Anthony Kovacic. “I think this is the best way for the volunteer fire service to survive in the township, is to try to lessen that financial burden and the planning piece moving forward. I think this is something that you’re going to see continue moving in a very positive direction.”

According to Kovacic, two other stations also are in the early stages of discussing becoming nonchartered.

“I think coming out of that meeting, we had a lot of momentum, and it’s carried through,” he said. “That was March, and here we are entering July, and certainly things are moving in a very positive direction.”

For Ken Wees, Adamsburg Fire Department’s president, not having to worry about the time-consuming process of fundraising will be a relief.

“It’s basically running a business in addition to running responses,” he said. “That whole burden will be absorbed by the township — they’ll be responsible for everything.”

Moving forward

The township hired four part-time paid drivers to augment the work of volunteer firefighters during the daylight hours, when fewer volunteers are available.

Kovacic said the paid driver program, which operates out of North Hempfield and the department headquarters, is progressing.

“One of the things we really stress is we are augmenting our volunteer staff — we’re just trying to help out in a period of time here where it’s difficult for us to assemble crews. It’s working out very well,” he said.

Kovacic is hopeful that the four stations that are in the process of going “all in” will be fully nonchartered by the end of the year. Beyond that, along with continuing to promote the process of coming under township management, the Hempfield Fire Department wants to focus on training, he said. They are working on setting up an area specifically for training at the recently renovated North Hempfield station.

“In the fire service, every call is different, so we really need to be able to not only deal with structural fires, but rescues and very technical rescue issues, vehicle collisions that require rescue capabilities, rope work, hazmat, things of that nature,” he said. “There’s a lot of different things that we need to prepare for, and I think moving forward, we’re going to emphasize having the capabilities to train.”

The department also is looking into building new fire station buildings in the planned Weatherwood Park complex and in the western part of the township.

“A lot of projects are moving forward and a lot of plans are underway to get a situation where the emergency services are located in the most feasible area for deployment,” he said.

Community connection

For Grapeville and Adamsburg, which both sent their letters of interest in May, keeping a connection to the community even after becoming nonchartered is essential. Many stations hold community events for the holidays and interact with the local schools to teach about fire safety.

“As volunteers, we want to be able to connect to our community that we protect,” Wees said. “That was one of the questions we had with the township, is ‘can we still keep that connection?’ They were on board with keeping that discussion open. Obviously those kinds of things would need to be discussed in depth more, but they understood the need for us to do that.”

Ciarkowski noted Grapeville’s regular community events — breakfast with the Easter bunny, Christmas with Santa, Halloween, and first responder meet-and-greets — are pieces of that community connection.

“In the past few years, we’ve been rebuilding the relationship with the community,” he said. Since 2019, the station has grown, from four active members to 15. “That’s part of what we want to negotiate in is keeping all that going.”

Wees hopes that the firefighters and stations will continue to have a voice during the process of consolidation.

“We want to be hands-on,” he said. “I’ve maintained all along that if you make the volunteers part of the process, then there’s a lot less resistance, because we have some ownership and some skin in the game.”