PA Fire Departments Merge over FF Shortage

June 20, 2019
The merger between West Hills Regional Fire Department and the Westwood Volunteer Fire Company was prompted by a shortage of volunteer firefighters.

Lower Yoder Township’s Westwood Volunteer Fire Company merged on June 1 with West Hills Regional Fire Department, a move that was made necessary by a shortage of volunteers, fire officials told The Tribune-Democrat on Wednesday.

With the merger, West Hills Regional Fire Department now provides primary fire protection and other emergency services to the Westwood section of Lower Yoder Township, as well as to the boroughs of Westmont, Brownstown and Ferndale.

Evan Dabbs, who was the president of Westwood Volunteer Fire Company, said Wednesday afternoon that his company was hit especially hard by the well-documented shortage of volunteer firefighters in the Johnstown region and across the state.

“We’re a department that was small to begin with,” he said. “We were one of the first departments that felt the sting, now that people aren’t volunteering as much. It got to the point where it wasn’t sustainable any more.”

Chief Rob Tauber, of West Hills Regional Fire Department, said Wednesday afternoon that his department “got stronger with this move, both manpower- and equipment-wise.”

Tauber pointed out that his department’s ladder truck, its primary response vehicle for structure fires, is still out of commission more than five months after it caught fire on a Ferndale street and was heavily damaged. The merger will allow the department to use Westwood’s rescue engine to respond to calls, he said.

Westwood’s volunteers will bolster the West Hills department’s 40- to 45-person roster, Tauber added.

Dabbs and Tauber said that the merger will not affect the West Hills department’s operations or negatively affect response times to area fires and other emergencies.

“Help is still out there,” Dabbs said.

Lower Yoder Township Volunteer Fire Company is not affected by the merger and will continue to provide primary fire protection and other emergency services to the area it currently serves, Tauber said. Other fire companies, including Johnstown Fire Department, are also within minutes of Westwood.

Westwood Volunteer Fire Company’s station at 1805 Goucher St. will not be used by the West Hills department, Dabbs said. The property will be sold “as soon as possible,” he added.

Tauber said that mergers of volunteer fire companies are “something that you’re probably going to see more of down the road, not just in the West Hills, but (also) in western Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, around the country.”

He listed manpower shortages and high equipment prices as factors that are making mergers “more of a necessity.”

Officials said a task force comprised of representatives from both departments and the Lower Yoder Township supervisors laid the groundwork for the merger over the past few months. The councils of Westmont, Brownstown and Ferndale boroughs, as well as the Lower Yoder Township supervisors, approved the merger in May.

The merger is the third in the history of West Hills Regional Fire Department. The department was created in 2006 through the merger of Brownstown Volunteer Fire Company and Westmont Volunteer Fire Company. Ferndale Volunteer Fire Company merged into the department in 2012.

Mergers have also grown other local fire companies over the years.

Richland Township’s fire company absorbed fire companies in Solomon Run, Belmont and Geistown in the past two decades. Cassandra’s fire company merged into Portage’s in 2009, and Lorain Borough’s fire company merged with Oakland Volunteer Fire Company in 2010. Last year, Cresson’s and Lilly’s fire companies merged their administrative functions, leaving both companies’ stations in operation.

In April, Franklin Borough Volunteer Fire Department received a $2,500 Community Foundation for the Alleghenies grant to study a potential merger with other volunteer fire companies in Daisytown, East Conemaugh and East Taylor Township. Chad Bizjak, Franklin’s fire chief, said at the time that the move was being considered because of a shortage of volunteers, the expense of training and the rising costs of equipment.

Mark Pesto is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter at @MarkPesto.

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©2019 The Tribune-Democrat (Johnstown, Pa.)

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