'Roller Coaster' For Full-Time Warminster Firefighter Hires: FD

WARMINSTER, PA —They showed up. But there was no sheet cake as promised.

Warminster Township Supervisors had discussed and then announced at past meetings that they were going to hire three full-time firefighters, ending a dispute with its two fire companies who have campaigned for daytime fire coverage for years.

But the fire companies never appeared at any meetings to acknowledge the agreement until last month's meeting when a formal announcement was made.

There was no champagne for the celebration and no sheet cake, which Supervisors Chairman Kenneth Hayes said he forgot that he had mentioned at the meeting before.

But Mitch Shapiro and Chris McDonald —the fire chiefs for the Warminster Fire Department and Hartsville Fire Company —both appeared at the July meeting to speak publicly about the agreement for the first time. Fire officials had only commented about the agreement through Facebook posts.

"We've been on this roller coaster for 5-6 years to get to this point," Shapiro told the supervisors as about 25 firefighters watched the proceedings from a side wall in the meeting room. "While we are taking a victory lap, we still have a long way to go. But we have a good future ahead of us."

The two fire companies held town hall meetings at the beginning of the year to state their case to residents that fire officials tried to seek funding for full-time firefighters. The fire companies have criticized the township for failing to provide adequate daytime coverage.

The fire department argued that Warminster received a $1.8 million SAFER grant two years ago to pay for five full-time firefighters for three years but the township never enacted it.

"We have to congratulate us," Hayes said. "We have the new agreement that was fairly easy to get through. We've had a lot of dialogue over this. I knew that public safety came first. We just had to get the finances in order. I'm thrilled we can pay for it."

Shapiro said he hoped that maybe the township could budget for a new firefighter hire each year.

Hayes said that there might be sheet cake when the township actually does hire the firefighters.

Shapiro said that he has the candidates in place and that they were going through agility tests. He said he hasn't figured out a timetable yet for the hirings.

He did emphasize that both fire companies will continue to count on volunteers, but that it would be nice to have a full-time member manning a truck.

The starting salary is $65,000 per year or $31.25 per hour. The position comes with health, dental, and vision insurance benefits, an employer-paid retirement plan benefit, and two weeks of annual paid vacation.