WINDBER, Pa. – Windber Fire Department and Scalp Level-Paint Volunteer Fire Company are merging to create a new regional fire department.
Both departments’ boards met separately Wednesday night, and each voted to approve the move, department officials told The Tribune-Democrat after the votes were tallied.
When a new fire tanker is delivered in March, it will carry the name Northern Regional Fire Department, said Windber’s deputy fire chief, Bob Statler.
“We’re looking to the future,” said Scalp Level-Paint member Marty Washko, who served on a joint merger committee that has explored the idea for the past nine months.
Windber Fire Department serves its home Windber Borough, Ogle Township and half of Paint Township.
Scalp Level-Paint’s territory is the product of a previous merger nearly two decades ago. Its coverage zone includes the other half of Paint Township, Scalp Level Borough, Paint Borough, Benson Borough and part of Quemahoning Township.
The three fire stations in Windber, Paint and Benson that serve the now-combined territory will continue sending out crews when emergencies occur, department officials said.
“People can rest assured that when incidents happen (the fire department) will show up, just like we always did,” Washko said.
Changes, challenges
Changing times steered the move, Statler and Scalp Level-Paint Chief Mike Horvath said. Fire departments nationwide are struggling to find active members and raise funds.
In most areas across Cambria and Somerset counties, firefighters are leaning on communities with shrinking populations for the support needed to cover monthly bills and hefty costs for equipment and gear.
Year after year, it gets harder to maintain and replace six-figure vehicles in communities where growing percentages of residents are retirees on fixed incomes, Windber and Scalp Level-Paint officials said.
“We’re doing pretty good on manpower,” said Washko, referring to Scalp Level-Paint’s active membership. “But people don’t realize income is just as important as people when it comes to running a department.”
Savings, strength
Statler and Washko said the merger will create one stronger and more cost-effective department.
“One of the hardest things is finding members willing to give their time for fundraisers,” Statler said. “And before now, we had a gun raffle and Scalp Level had their own gun raffle. We were basically competing against each other. … Now we’ll just have one big raffle, and we won’t have to worry about having enough volunteers.”
With the departments’ current fleets of vehicles and equipment merged, there will be opportunities to save costs, too, they said. Statler cited insurance and workers’ compensation costs as examples.
The merger could eventually avert the need to replace as many vehicles in the longer term, while certain equipment costs could decrease in the near future, he added.
“We have five or six sets of hydraulic rescue tools that cost each department $5,000 a year to have them tested,” he said. “We don’t need that many. And when the time comes that some of them reach the end of their lives, we won’t need to replace them.”
The Scalp Level-Paint department typically handles about 700 calls per year, with a dedicated group of volunteers that is often as large as 35 members when structure fires and other serious incidents occur, Washko said.
The number is closer to 500 calls yearly for Windber, Statler said. He said Windber was down to about 10 firefighters who often answered the call for significant incidents. But many times, both departments responded to the same call.
Now, when an emergency requires multiple units to respond, Northern Regional Fire Department will send out two or more units, instead of Windber and Scalp Level-Paint each sending one, said Horvath, a longtime firefighter who will be the new department’s first fire chief.
If the call is a minor issue, one station will send out whichever apparatus is the right one to respond. That will save “wear and tear” on the rest of the regional department’s fleet, Horvath said.
Efforts were underway to reach out to county 911 agencies to alert them to the formal changes and to update the alarm cards that are used to notify stations of incidents, he said.
During the early stages of the transition, the group agreed to form a 10-member board of directors to oversee the department, Washko said. Five will come from each preexisting fire department.
Over the next five years, that number will slowly decrease, by design, and eventually a five-member board of community members will oversee Northern Regional Fire Department, Washko and Statler said.
Merging each department’s corporation is a more complex process, Washko said.
‘We’ve got to adapt’
The merger is one of several involving local first responders over the past 12 months.
Somerset’s and Friedens’ volunteer fire companies voted last summer to merge to create the new Somerset Regional Volunteer Fire Department while keeping both companies’ stations in operation.
Windber’s Northern EMS ambulance service merged with Conemaugh Township EMS last fall.
Local responders have seen the alternative occur statewide, too – departments closing up shop overnight due to financial or membership shortages, Washko said.
“You look at the studies,” he said. “Back in the 1970s, there were 300,000 volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania. Today, it’s 30,000. We’ve got to adapt.”
Windber Borough Manager Ron Allison said borough officials recognize the challenges that fire departments face.
“We know the money just isn’t there for most departments these days,” he said.
Windber Fire Department’s members kept Windber Borough Council informed in recent months as talks with Scalp Level-Paint progressed, Allison said. Windber Borough officials saw it as a priority to keep the borough’s Somerset Avenue fire station occupied.
“If a merger is what it would take, then we’re for it,” he said.
Still, Allison cautioned that communities can’t sit back now and assume the region’s fire department issues went away overnight. Local residents need to keep supporting fundraisers, and boroughs and townships need to provide support too, he said.
Windber dedicated $21,000 in tax dollars to the fire department this year, plus $45,000 toward a fire truck payment. Another $23,483 is being directed for ambulance service to support the recently expanded Conemaugh Township EMS, he said.
“We all need to step forward to keep our emergency services in place,” Allison said. “We all need to do our part because, if not, a few years down the road we could be facing the same issues again.”