THE FRIENDSHIP ENGINE & HOSE CO. has been serving Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, since 1780 and is one of the oldest fire companies still active in the state. Friendship is one of five VFD’s in the borough, but it is also the only one that has refused to bring its membership up to the minimum standards mandated by the Chambersburg Fire Chief.
In the mid-1970’s Chambersburg took over most of the financial obligations of the town’s 5 volunteer companies while combining four of them in two borough-owned firehouses. The 5th company still operates out of its own house. Chambersburg also owns most of the appratus and provides paid drivers for the engines. The McKinley St. station where Friendship operates out of is also used by the Good Will Fire Company.
The borough also requires the volunteer firefighters to meet minimum standards for training and personnel requirements such as background checks. Fire Chief William FitzGerald has given Friendship until April 10 to remove the fire engine that they own and until September 1 to qualify its members properly. Chief FitzGerald tells WHTM-TV:
“We’ve gotten past the point of talking to them about meeting the standards,” said FitzGerald. He says their volunteers do not meet national standards in things like CPR and Hazmat.
“Most of these things are not hard to get. We provide the computers — most can be done online,” said FitzGerald. But he says they also have not fulfilled bare minimum borough requirements.
“The biggest stepping stone is we need to have a full background check, a physical and we need them to sign an arson affidavit,” FitzGerald.
The time for talking is over after several months of discussions and no attempts being made by the volunteers to meet the minimum standards.
WHP-TV Ch. 21 has this video report:
The Chambersburg Public Opinion has MORE HERE.
Friendship Engine & Hose Co. WEBSITE. (Recommended, click on the History Page button.)
A Small Win for the Fire/Rescue Service
CommentsIN PENNSYLVANIA, AS IN MOST OTHER STATES, the Home Builders Association has launched a vile disinformation campaign against the implementation of the 2009 International Residential Code that went into effect on January 1. The revised code requires all newly constructed townhomes in Pennsylvania, built after Jan. 1, 2010, and all newly constructed one- and two-family homes built after Jan. 1, 2011, to contain a residential fire sprinkler system.
The Pennsylvania HBA has not only started spreading downright lies about the Code, but they also filed a lawsuit against the state in an attempt to block the adoption of the revised code. As part of the lawsuit, they asked for an injunction to halt implementation of the code until the lawsuit was settled, a process that could take years.
On Wednesday March 10 Commonwealth Court Judge Johnny Butler denied the injunction, saying that it does nothing to address the underlying issue they are citing.
The builders’ lawsuit will continue forward, though. It (the suit) claims that changes written by an outside code commission and adopted Dec. 31 by the state is an unconstitutional delegation of lawmaking authority. Judge Butler, in denying the injunction, reminded the builders that the 2006 Code that they are petitioning to go back to were produced by the same process that they are now saying is unconstitutional.
While the lawsuit is still standing, Firegeezer believes that the judge’s point is a strong one and may complicate the HBA’s suit. For now, the new code is still in effect, a small win for the public’s safety.
As part of the war of competing press releases, the National Fire Sprinkler Association published an op-ed in the Scranton Times Tribune HERE that contains some good points that you could add to your own arsenal of facts when the inevitable blizzard of disinformation from the builders and developers in your area begins.