Fort Allen Volunteer Fire Department plans to join Hempfield Fire Department

Fort Allen Volunteer Fire Department is the third of the township’s stations to take steps toward becoming a nonchartered service under the umbrella of the Hempfield Fire Department.

The township received a letter Tuesday indicating the station’s intent to “go all in,” according to fire Chief Anthony Kovacic and Township Manager Aaron Siko.

Once the process is finished, the township will manage Fort Allen’s property and cover its expenses.

Ricky Manley, fire captain at Fort Allen, said he looks forward to getting additional information about how the station would become nonchartered. He hopes the move will help the company find additional firefighters — a challenge for many departments across the region and state.

Fort Allen has about 10 to 12 active firefighters, he said.

“Just like everybody else, the biggest issue is getting the manpower, the staffing,” Manley said.

Fort Allen follows Midway-St.Clair and North Hempfield in moving under the township’s management umbrella.

The station covers the biggest service area of the township, which includes Hempfield Area High School.

Siko previously said the goal is to develop a regional fire service that can provide a sufficient emergency response across the township’s 80 square miles.

“(Fort Allen) took a big leap of faith,” Siko said. “We’re excited that they’re excited about this opportunity. … We’re excited at the potential to move another station forward under the Hempfield Fire Department.”

“It’s exciting for us to have this momentum,” Kovacic said. “I believe that when you see the opportunities that the North (Hempfield) station had as a result of what we’re doing, it’s moving this project.”

Township officials will meet with Fort Allen leadership to go over paperwork, Kovacic said. The township recently met with Midway-St. Clair in a similar fashion, Siko said.

“They’re at the very infancy of this process, but next, we’ll all sit and meet,” Kovacic said. “They’ll have a committee, they’ll meet with us, and we’ll move the thing forward.”

Manley finds the smooth operation of management and paperwork at the township fire department in the past year encouraging. He looks forward to learning how the station will continue its community activities, including Christmas and Easter events it has hosted for years.

Michael Kurtiak, Fort Allen fire company president, has been a member for 35 years and has family history with the department.

“We do so much for our community,” he said. “We do have the largest area to cover.”

Next moves

The township is planning to hold a meeting at 9 a.m. March 9 at the township municipal building to talk about the future of the department and answer remaining questions that firefighters might have about the process of becoming nonchartered.

At a township meeting Monday, Hempfield supervisors also intend to vote on whether to advertise four paid positions for part-time firetruck drivers.

These positions have been accounted for with $81,000 set aside in the township’s budget this year. The drivers would help the department supplement its numbers during the middle of the day, when many volunteers are busy at work.

“That is the greatest time of need for the volunteer fire service, during those daytime hours, so this provides an opportunity where we can partially staff the … stations with some part-time, paid drivers,” Siko said.

He clarified that the paid drivers would operate out of township-controlled facilities.

“They augment the volunteers,” Kovacic said. “If you fail to respond, and no one is coming, it’s up to us to ensure that somebody shows up. We still have a volunteer fire service, but we’ll have the drivers in place.

“We’re spending millions on fire apparatus; it can’t just sit there.”