Upper Gwynedd Fire Department and North Penn Volunteer Fire Company firefighters stand together below an NPVFC ladder at a fire scene. (Photo by Bob Kelly for UGFD)
A joint study is in the works that could shape the future of fire coverage for four area municipalities.
Lower and Upper Gwynedd townships and Ambler and North Wales boroughs are all in the process of seeking a joint study to look into reimagining fire coverage for a combined area.
“We are committed to exploring innovative approaches that will allow us to better serve our residents while maximizing the utilization of available resources,” said Eric Geiger, chief of the Upper Gwynedd Fire Company, in a joint statement from the four municipalities.
“By partnering with the DCED, we aim to gain valuable insights and recommendations that will guide us in creating a more efficient and sustainable framework for fire services delivery,” he said.
Fire coverage has been an ongoing topic of discussion in recent years, as local fire companies have worked to find ways to address declining volunteerism and growing costs for replacement equipment and fire apparatus.
North Wales borough has supported the North Penn Volunteer Fire Company as they renovated and expanded their station and added a new engine in 2018-21, projects also partially funded by Lower Gwynedd.
In adjacent Upper Gwynedd, fire company leadership asked the commissioners in 2022 to approve a study examining options for a new station, citing aging infrastructure, a need for more space, and stricter standards for equipment, training, and maintenance at their current station. The study recommended that the township and fire company consider options for regionalizing, due to statewide issues of firefighters aging out of local departments and few new recruits.
Geiger and several fellow firefighters from the Upper Gwynedd and North Penn companies were on hand Monday night, April 8, as Upper Gwynedd’s commissioners discussed the joint study, which would be done by the PA Department of Community and Economic Development’s Governor’s Center for Local Government Services
Township Manager Sandra Brookley Zadell explained that the four municipalities will all discuss and vote on similar actions this month, signing on to a joint letter of intent asking for a combined fire services study.
“In the (2022-23) study, DCED recommended that we communicate with our neighboring municipalities to see if there’s any interest in exploring regionalization of fire protection, before investing in a fire station, and the planning that goes along with that,” Zadell said.
“We did just that, and found out that there was some interest among neighboring municipalities at looking at some way of potentially working together: to look at the different ways that we could work together and collaborate, to provide optimization of our resources, reducing the duplication of efforts, and streamline our fire operations,” she said.
Aging facilities, declining volunteerism, and dramatically increasing prices of fire trucks have forced leadership to look for new ways to provide fire services and reduce the duplication of efforts, the four towns said in the joint statement. The study conducted by the DCED will encompass an analysis of current operational practices, infrastructure, facilities, equipment, and options for collaboration across the participating jurisdictions, the statement said, adding that the goal of the study is to provide the four municipalities with ideas and direction that would allow for a more collective approach to fire service, with potential shared resources, and a shared vision.
“We believe that by fostering closer collaboration and coordination among our fire departments, we can achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness in our emergency response efforts,” said North Wales Council President Sal Amato in the joint statement. “This collaborative endeavor underscores our unwavering commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of our residents.”
“We do know that volunteerism is on the decline, and we also know that the cost of apparatus to fight fires has been on the dramatic increase over the past five to ten years. And we don’t see that getting any cheaper,” said North Wales Manager Christine Hart.
“We’re hoping that the result of this study sheds more light into how we can work collaboratively, to guarantee that we’ll have volunteer fire service for many years to come,” she said.
Borough Mayor Neil McDevitt added thanks on behalf of council to the firefighters, and said he’s heard of other parts of the state that don’t have enough volunteers to cover emergency calls at all.
“I think we are an exception in our area, that we have such a strong volunteer base,” he said.
Zadell added that the Upper Gwynedd, North Penn, and Wissahickon fire companies that currently cover those municipalities already work together well.
“These groups train together, they do a lot of work together, they work on tons of calls together. But one thing we wanted to look at is reducing the duplication of all of these efforts,” she said.
“If we were all to work together, how would the financial part of that work? How does it work with what you bring to the table? What do we all have, and how do we mesh that together to do something new? How do previously held financials work out? Relief funds? There’s a lot of detail there that needs to be reviewed,” Zadell said.
Once all four sign on, Hart said, Upper Gwynedd has agreed to take the lead in sending the letter to the Governor’s Center. Zadell said the study comes at no cost to any of the member municipalities and will also look at current facilities and vehicles operated by each of the companies and what upgrades and modernization each could need.
Lower Gwynedd Township Manager Mimi Gleason confirmed Wednesday that township commissioners also approved the letter of intent on Tuesday night, and Zadell and Hart said Ambler is expected to sign on later this month.
“I can’t tell you what the result of this study is going to be — if this is going to result in a brand new department, if this is going to result in a new shared coverage area, that we’re all working together in a different way. I don’t know exactly what it’s going to result in. What I hope it’s going to result in is us finding out a new way to do things,” Zadell said.
“When I say ‘better,’ I mean a more efficient way, that we’re not all just doing the same thing in our own little areas, but that we’re all working together and sharing what we have,” she said.
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