Volunteers staffed fire station throughout recent blizzards
While most of us are safely indoors, watching the flakes fall, they’re on the road, behind those plows.
And their efforts are much appreciated, borough officials said last week, thanking town staff and North Penn Volunteer Fire Company personnel for their work during recent snowstorms.
“This is well deserved: a certificate of appreciation for North Penn Volunteer Fire Company plow drivers, for the storm of January 25th — and I’m going to say, yesterday too. And maybe in the future,” said council President Mark Tarlecki.
Volunteer firefighters and borough crews took to the town’s streets in late January as winter storms dropped roughly a foot of snow on the area, then coated it with frozen rain and followed up with another several inches of snow roughly a month later. Borough officials originally planned to honor the work in January only, Tarlecki said, until the second snowstorm blanketed the area just after the Feb. 24 meeting agenda was finalized.
“We didn’t know more snow was coming when this was created,” borough Manager Christine Hart said, and Tarlecki added: “Don’t put your plows away yet, I hear there’s more coming.”
Hart added that council and the fire company have worked closely together in recent years to plan and fund upgrades to the Main Street fire station that highlighted the town’s 150th anniversary celebrations in 2019, and said they’re “truly a part of our fabric.”
“They’re very strong friends, that make us who we are,” she said. “In all areas of emergency management, when things happen, the best of North Wales comes out.”
After the January storms, crews and borough staff heard plenty of feedback from residents that their snow cleanup from February flakes had improved.
“We had an amazing cleanup: I hate to say practice makes perfect, but the more we do this, the better we get at it,” she said.
New fire company Chief Dan Mathe and Assistant Chief Colin Beatty have helped the borough work through storms with just hours of notice, and worked closely with new town public works crew leader Tom O’Mara to coordinate their plowing efforts, and make sure all equipment is ready beforehand.
“Colin has gone down to our shop with Tom, to make sure that our equipment is in good order, if there were repairs that need to be made, preliminary maintenance is needed, keeping us all apprised — it’s just been a phenomenal relationship,” Hart said.
“Every weekend since after Christmas, we’ve had some type of storm: whether it was ice, sleet, rain, salt shortages. Every single weekend there has been some situation we’ve been dealing with, and we’ve been able to go right to the public works crews and the fire company,” she said.
Beatty added thanks on behalf of the fire company to council and residents for their support.
“Plowing is the most visible aspect of a snowstorm, you guys get the complaints and the thank-you’s on that, but there’s a bunch of people behind the scenes putting everything into motion,” he said.
Beatty added special thanks to Hart and O’Mara for their nonstop efforts and long on the borough’s end, before giving stats from the fire company.
“For the storm of Jan. 25th and 26th, we had 17 volunteers staffing the firehouse for a total of 188 man-hours. We responded to 13 total emergency calls in that 24-hour period, including three building fires,” two in Lansdale and one in Lower Gwynedd, he said.
Firefighters also responded to one carbon monoxide leak, four medical calls, and five calls to assist neighbors with medical incidents, as ambulances added fire crews to dig out driveways where needed. On Feb. 21 before the most recent snowstorms, the fire company hosted a local dog rescue with 17 members present and 35 dogs up for adoption, before the snows began to fall.
“Rolling into Sunday, our firehouse staffed from 6 a.m. Sunday to noon Monday: 13 members staffed the firehouse for 144 man-hours. We weren’t as busy call-wise, but Monday night we did conduct our normal training,” with 17 members cleaning the firehouse and practicing forcible entries and snow responses.
“All those members have families, work, lives, so they’re playing the balancing act to make sure the community is covered and safe during the snowstorms.”
For more information on the North Penn Fire Company visit www.NorthPennFire.com, search for “North Penn Volunteer Fire Company” on Facebook or follow @NPVFC62 on Instagram. North Wales borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on March 10; for more information visit www.NorthWalesBorough.org.
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