Fire Department Blasts Warminster Supervisors For Lack Of Funding

WARMINSTER, PA —The Warminster Fire Department

"The elected officials have demonstrated through their inaction that public safety is not a priority for them," the Warminster Fire Department said in a Facebook post on Thursday. "After numerous attempts to have a meeting, our emails and calls go unanswered. If you believe that the township needs to get back to the table, engage the stakeholders and do what's right for the community, reach out and tell them. They certainly aren't answering our calls."

Supervisors this past week adopted a resolution calling for the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass two bills related to the creation of a fire district to help municipalities fund full-time firefighters. The resolution also addressed recent recruitment issues.

Calls to Supervisors Chairman Kenneth Hayes and Supervisor Mark McKee were not returned Friday.

At a recent meeting attended by firefighters, Hayes told Warminster Fire Chief Mitch Shapiro that the township's hands were tied by the state.

"The state knows there's a problem," Hayes said. "They have restrictions that we can't pay for firefighters. If we can set up Warminster as a fire district, then we can reduce the firefighter tax."

The Warminster Fire Department, in its Facebook post, gave an example of how its coverage shortage is having an impact.

The department was dispatched to a car fire that quickly spread throughout a resident's property affecting their vehicles and garage and risking spreading to their home Thursday.

"Crisis averted, but next time we may not be so lucky," the department stated. "Unfortunately, due to ongoing daytime staffing issues, we were only able to respond with two firefighters, a frightfully inadequate number. Thankfully these firefighters were able to get water on the fire to slow its spread while we waited for additional personnel from surrounding communities to assist us."

In September 2018, the leadership of the Warminster Fire Department and the Hartsville Fire Company met with township officials to discuss the state of the fire service in Warminster.

Both agencies identified the need to supplement volunteers with career firefighters during the daytime hours when most volunteers are working out of the area. Request for fire services during this period are equal to or greater than most of our neighboring municipalities that have already hired daytime staffing.

The township requested both agencies participate in a study to identify any deficiencies in the services being provided.

After several months of collecting data the study was presented by Emergency Services Consulting International at the June 2019 supervisors' meeting.

The study revealed that Warminster Township is protected by two highly trained agencies with great facilities and apparatus. Both fire companies are currently financially stable and have a great working relationship.

Emergency Services Consulting International identified four markers that lead them to recommend a need for Warminster Township to begin the planning stages of supplementing volunteers with career staff. The Township Supervisors and officials from both agencies all spoke in support of the study.

"Two years ago, and after countless hours of planning and diligence by the township's fire departments, Warminster Township finally filed for and was one of ONLY 3 FIRE DEPARTMENTS IN PENNSYLVANIA to be awarded a SAFER grant for approximately $1.8 million," the department states in its post.

"The grant would have fully funded five career firefighters for three years alleviating much of the danger during these high-risk daytime hours, but unfortunately, even a zero-contribution grant wasn't enough to motivate Warminster Township officials to do what's right for the community."

"Two years since being awarded the grant and 18 months since the expected start date, we are no closer to addressing the critical shortages of manpower during the day. Even today, the Board of Supervisors are asking how much is a life worth, do we really need career firefighters?"

"The studies show that Warminster needs career firefighters. We have said that critical manpower shortages continue to present a danger to the community and yet the leadership is unwilling to even engage the fire leadership in honest conversations about how to move forward instead stating we should not expect to see career staff anytime in the near future," the Facebook post states.