Previous coverage of this story
In April we told you about a report from WTXF-TV that Chief Vincent Troisi of the Union Fire Company in Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania (Bucks County) was under investigation. The TV station reported at the time that the chief was being investigated for "refusing to supply water to a paid fire company that arrived first on the scene of a warehouse fire" and instead gave water to the volunteer fire company that arrived later.
Now the whole fire company have been suspended by Bensalem officials. Here's what WTXF-TV reports today:
Bensalem officials announced Monday that the Union Fire Company's operations have been suspended due to its leader failing to follow township orders.
"Over the past 12-18 months, there have been many incidents and issues where the leadership of the company has failed to follow both the administrative and operational directions from the Township," says the news release from the Bensalem Township Department of Public Safety.
There is some speculation that some of the volunteer firefighters took issue with the fact that the township hired full-time paid firefighters last year using federal grant money.
Among the problems – officials say the volunteer fire company failed to send the proper number of firefighters to fires, sent civilians to fire scenes and tried to beat the township's paid firefighters to fires.
Furthermore, the township has been investigating reports that the Union volunteer company delayed getting water to the paid firefighters who were fighting a fire at a building on State Road on April 19th.
Also on STATter911 …
- The boat that is sinking a fire company: A misuse of federal grant money or just a nasty battle between police & fire in Bensalem, PA? – July 29, 2012
- Helmet-cam video: Two-alarm strip mall fire in Medford Township, New Jersey. – February 18, 2013
- Video & fireground audio: Vacant rowhouse in Baltimore, Maryland. – April 8, 2012
- Termination letter for career firefighter is signed by 13 of his colleagues. – January 21, 2012
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I still do not get the paid VS volunteer thing. Where I live it is predominantly volunteer as opposed to work. The volunteers save me a lot on taxes and do a pretty good job although some of them do carry a Union card?????
Both sides have good and bad people. The fire does not know if you are career or volunteer, just get the job done safely and efficiently. People squawk about these rural communities fire service but that is what they can afford. Not everyone can be DCFD/FEMS or FDNY.
No one is sqwaking the deparment's in the rual area, and what they can afford. We're going after how they're operating and the unsafe, and down right implorable tactics that are used. Being a volunteer, and not a career guy, it scares me that these departments are allowed to operate.
Sad thing is this is happening more frequent than you think. 75% of the combination departments in the nation have the same problems between career and volunteer firefighters. Each think they are inferior to one another.
Looking to educate myself…I understand the long history PA and many of the eastern states have in the fire service. I've always been curious on why a city or twp. with 50,000 or more can have multiple vol. companies, many of these with several engines, a truck/tower, rescue, but serve the same general area. That's a lot of apparatus. Generally speaking, you can figure a station for every 10,000 people in metro areas. I'm guessing it goes back to the way vol. companies were set up way back in the day. Usually a city with 50,000 or so should have around 5-6 engines, one rescue, and one to two trucks….a BC, or whatever. Add medics if they're EMS. It's always seemed some of these cities and townships have a lot of FD's.
The fire service, in general, is in trouble. All paid, all volly, combo – it doesn't matter – The public is losing faith and most experienced firefighters themselves have become apathetic. In the Mid-Atlantic, the biggest issue of failure is the combination system.
While, paid depts are going to go through severe pension unfunded liabilities and operational straightjackets under the guise of "accountability"( and the benefits of being a career fireman are decreasing), these problems are recent in the making when compared to the career and volly issues. Both the IAFF and the volly companies are to blame. In PA and NY, the volly fire depts are their own worst enemies. Savings in personnel costs are lost on facilities and apparatus waste, cutthroat politics and mediocre organizations that should be combined and merged. The sad thing is most of these places (the boards and townships) don't even know they have an underlying problem. Here, the question that the twp needs to answer is does Bensalem really need 5 fire companies or that there is a need for a career staff in one? The answer is probably no on both counts.
play4keeps, you hit it on the head with a sledgehammer.