Logan supervisor asks for training help
At a meeting this week in which the Logan Township supervisors distributed their annual allocations to the four township fire companies, Chairman Jim Patterson asked the area’s new state representative for help.
Would Lou Schmitt consider introducing a bill that called for a tax break that would help compensate volunteer firefighters for training expenses?
“Absolutely,” said Schmitt, who has begun attending the meetings of the elected officials in the municipalities he represents, following the example of predecessor John McGinnis. “I’d be happy to look into it.”
It’s uncertain how necessary such legislation may be, based on conversations with officials from two of the township’s fire companies, both of which pay their firefighters’ training costs with grants or general fund money.
Ancillary costs, however, may be an issue.
At United Fire Department, the cost of ancillary expenses like travel and occasionally lodging are also covered, company board President Jeff Blake said.
But Lakemont Fire Department firefighters may need to pay their own travel and meal expenses, according to Carl Long, the company treasurer. They also may need to bear indirect expenses related to time off from work and finding child care, Long said.
“We don’t want a volunteer who’s giving of his time and placing his life on the line and providing service to the citizens and visitors — we don’t want them paying,” Blake said of United’s policy of covering all training-related costs.
That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t support Patterson’s proposal, however.
“Any time you extend a benefit, whether a tax break or a financial credit to emergency responders, it’s clearly a positive thing,” Blake said.
Long is also appreciative.
“Anything helps,” he said of Patterson’s proposal.
Recruitment and retention is a perennial problem for volunteer companies, and, while the time it takes out of the lives of firefighters may be the biggest problem, expenses can also be “a factor,” he said.
Supervisor Joe Metzgar supports Patterson’s idea, too.
“I think Jim’s dead-on,” Metzgar said.
Basic firefighter training takes 180 hours, according to Long.
Much additional training is available.
Firefighter training, the money to pay for it and the organizational structure under which it’s provided seems to be a patchwork.
Training is provided by various agencies, including Bucks County Community College, the Pennsylvania Fire Academy in Lewistown and local certified instructors, sometimes at agency sites, sometimes at local sites. Individual fire companies make training arrangements, then invite firefighters from other companies to fill vacant slots in classes.
Funding comes from money raised by the fire companies themselves, money appropriated by their municipalities, money provided through the state’s foreign fire insurance fund and money from state and federal grants, according to officials.
“We’re lucky to have these volunteers,” Metzgar said. “A paid fire organization would be just ungodly — we would never get the money.”
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.
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