The escalating cost of filling a 150-gallon tank on a fire truck - which gets about three miles per gallon - is stretching the already tight budgets of volunteer fire companies.
To cope, they are delaying equipment purchases, reducing office- and cleaning-supply budgets, turning off the stations' air-conditioning units and room lights, and pulling out of parades.
"We just have to cut back on everything else," said firefighter Andrew Bannon, 19, of the Reliance Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 in Upper Chichester.
In the last year, gas prices at consumer pumps increased an average of $1.13 per gallon to $4.11 nationwide, with diesel increasing $1.87 per gallon to $4.72, according to the federal Office of Energy Statistics.
In Warminster, Bucks County, the fire company is budgeting an additional $8,000 for fuel costs for next year - about double this year's figure - according to Mitch Shapiro, township fire chief. The department has three stations and serves about 10 square miles with five fire trucks, two pickup trucks, and four fire cars.
Pennsylvania has 2,400 volunteer fire departments and 33 paid departments, said Ed Mann, state fire commissioner.
"We have more geographical area covered by volunteer departments, but the majority of the population is covered by career departments," Mann said. He estimates about 95 percent of Pennsylvania is covered by volunteer departments, compared with 75 percent nationally.
Higher costs yesterday prompted two Pennsylvania Democrats - U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and Rep. Jason Altmire, who represents parts of six western counties - to propose legislation that would provide grants for volunteer companies to help cover fuel expenses.
Editors Note, wording of the legislation reads as follows: The SAVES Act would set a baseline of gas and diesel prices using average prices from 2007. Volunteer fire companies would be eligible for reimbursement of 75% of budget overages due to the rising cost of gas over the baseline cost. The companies would then receive a grant to help cover the additional costs. For example, a volunteer fire company that uses 1,000 gallons of gasoline and 700 gallons of diesel under current levels would receive approximately $1,725.00 in reimbursements under this program.Fuel for the trucks is only part of the pinch companies - and volunteers - are feeling.
"We still have to buy heating oil," said Adam Selisker, chief of the Northampton Township Volunteer Fire Company in Richboro, Bucks County. Last year, the company spent $15,000 on heating bills for its three fire stations. This year, Selisker said, those costs are expected to climb to more than $40,000. He said the company is looking at areas that might be cut without affecting emergency responses.
In the past when municipalities were able to get fixed contracts for their fuel, some fire companies were able to purchase fuel through the towns. Now, suppliers are not offering stable price contracts, and towns, along with fire companies, are bearing the increase in overall costs.
The Radnor Fire Department, which serves most of the township and parts of Tredyffrin Township in Chester County, making about 800 fire calls and 2,200 ambulance calls last year, is in the lucky position of having the township pay its fuel costs. But Fire Chief James Kelly Jr. said increasing prices had hit home for his volunteers.
A few firefighters who live close by will jump on a bicycle or run to the station when they get an emergency call. Others, he said, tend to hang around the fire company longer instead of making trips back and forth from home.
"At what point does the cost of fuel become too excessive for volunteers to show up?" Shapiro asked. He said most volunteers love what they do and would probably sacrifice in other areas to continue to respond when needed.
Selisker said that while he had not seen a drop in volunteers, he had had conversations about increasing personal costs with his fire police. Those volunteers, who help direct traffic, use their own vehicles to respond and must leave them running for the fire's duration to keep the blue emergency lights operating.
"It is costing them some bucks," Selisker said. They have talked about ways to try to reduce or supplement the expenses.
Recently, a weekend training class at the state's fire academy, which usually has a waiting list, was canceled. Participants were to arrive by car from all over the state.
"Can I tell you it was exclusively the cost of fuel that kept people away? No," Mann said. "But I'm sure it was one of the factors."
