Tragedy could lead to provision for the Penn Hills volunteer fire departments.
Penn Hills Mayor Sara Kuhn lined up fire chiefs from each of the municipality’s six volunteer fire departments as she led the audience in extended applause for fighting the fire that destroyed a shopping plaza along Frankstown Road.
The July 28 fire injured several firefighters and caused up to $1.5 million in damage as flames blazed on for more than 12 hours and a natural gas leak triggered an explosion. Peoples Gas officials said the company’s response to the fire was complicated by a mislabeled valve box that was blocked by fire equipment.
Penn Hills Fire Marshal Chuck Miller ruled the fire accidental. He said he believes the cause of the fire was a gas leak but that the building was too damaged to say that conclusively.
The fire chief of Station 227 on Universal Road, Bill Jeffcoat, said 18 other fire departments responded to that fire.
“These volunteers, who give so much, ask for so little – their interests do not present self-promoting. What they do have is the utmost honor and integrity. If only we all could follow their leads,” Kuhn said before reading from a proclamation declaring Aug. 20, 2019, as Penn Hills Volunteer Fire Service Day.
Also before reading the proclamation, Kuhn said she will request “some form of additional funding” for Penn Hills’ six volunteer fire departments.
“If the budget is unable to find the needed revenue then my question is ‘how will we find the revenue if we would have to pay for firefighters and not have our volunteers?’” she said.
The mayor did not offer any other details.
Council allocated $52,500 to all the municipality’s fire companies, for a total of $315,000 in 2019. Other expenses, such as the salary for Miller and various equipment debt payments, bring the total fire budget to $673,000.
Kuhn’s remarks came just before Jeffcoat approached council with requests for additional funding. Specifically, Jeffcoat requested a 5% increase to council’s yearly allocation to the volunteer fire stations. The increase would bring council’s yearly allocation to $55,125 for each department.
He also asked council to extend a debt service payment and to purchase 24 new fire suits, which would be distributed evenly among the six stations.
He said if residents donated more money to volunteer fire departments he would not have to ask for council’s assistance.
“We sent out roughly 4,700 letters (asking for donations) in the 227 fire district,” he said. “So far, we’ve only gotten back 12% of what we sent out.”
Jeffcoat said that has returned around $25,000.
The lack of funding comes at a time the Penn Hills volunteer fire departments are experiencing a 23% yearly increase in call volumes and a steady decrease in volunteerism, he said.
After the meeting, Jeffcoat was hopeful his requests would not fall on deaf ears.
“The first thing (Kuhn) said was she was requesting an increase in our budget if they can figure out how to do it. Well, I just did it for them,” he said.
He also said the fire chiefs committee, a group of which he is a part, continues to tweak language in a proposal that would offer Penn Hills volunteer firefighters an income tax break. Jeffcoat first proposed it in March 2018.
“We want to close up any gray area in the language. We hope to submit and have a vote by the end of the year … we’re trying to make both parties happy with that and not leave any gray areas that are open for interpretation,” Jeffcoat said.
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