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Earlier STATter911.com coverage of Bensalem’s Union Fire Company here & here
The Union Fire Company in Bensalem, Pennsylvania has a knack for making news and little of it is the type of news coverage you want. Recently, for the second time in just 13 months, town officials suspended fire department operations demanding a change in leadership (see video at bottom of page or click here for the latest suspension). Now, with a new chief in place, the fire company has to deal with what is behind some of the bad blood between firefighters, town leaders and police officials. It’s Marine 37, Union Fire Company’s $1 million fireboat.
The whole mess has caught the attention Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Monica Yant Kinney. Kinney, in today’s paper, explains how the Union Fire Company got to this point, and makes it very clear that she thinks that taxpayer’s money was wasted with the federal grant that helped fund Marine 37.
Take the time to read Kinney’s column. Even if you disagree with what she has written and believe, as some of the firefighters do, this is just a case of the police department being jealous that they didn’t get the boat, there are some important lessons to be learned.
As we know, in recent years there has been a great deal of federal grant money floating around that many, many fire departments have put to good use. We have seen articles in the past across the country questioning the need for some of the purchases made by both fire and law enforcement.
The lesson here is that it’s one thing to convince the federal government you need something and have your grant application approved, it may be a completely different thing convincing the public that their money is being well spent. Make sure you are able to justify the purchase to the press and the citizens and show it is being put to good use. As you will see from just the beginning of her column, Monica Yant Kinney isn’t buying it (again, take the time to read the whole column):
What’s a tiny volunteer fire company in Bensalem doing with a $1 million taxpayer-funded fireboat tricked out to troll the Delaware River for blazes, bodies, terrorists, and IEDs?
Nothing, besides preening for festival crowds and crashing into objects seen and unseen.
The tale of how the dysfunctional Union Fire Company won a wad of Homeland Security money to buy a state-of-the-art terror-taming boat screams post-9/11 planning at its nuttiest.
One of the former chiefs defends the purchase of Marine 37.
The volunteers’ bold play to dabble in regional law enforcement has soured relations with Bensalem’s paid police department. Two Union chiefs have resigned as a result of boat acrimony and embarrassing accidents. And just maintaining the vessel is draining the fire company’s meager resources.
Do you want to sell a rig? Click HERE to find out how with SellFireTrucks.com.
View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com.
Also on STATter911 …
- Attack on pricey yacht fire falls way short in many ways but gives some Aussies a laugh. Still, fighting fire in this fishbowl clearly illustrates a significant lack of waterfront resources for the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. – March 21, 2012
- Quick Takes: July 30, 2012. – July 30, 2012
- Webster update: Police say killer William Spengler was with woman when she purchased guns in 2010. Read charges against Dawn Nguyen. – December 28, 2012
- A new uniform order from DC Chief Kenneth Ellerbe has Lt. Robert Alvarado again publicly calling him out. Says fifth change in a year is ‘unconscionable’ & shows ‘lack of leadership.’ – January 21, 2012
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I think these guys sound like a bunch of stooges, according to the article they fail multiple calls, the bulk of the members dont live in the district. Maybe they should ve worried about handling their own calls before they tried to take on something way above their heads. Further the writer notes that 5 out of 6 departments operate problem free in the town.
Yea your not kidding the last three so called chiefs should have been in the new three stooges movie Mahan,Troisi,Jerri these three took that station to the lowest of lows.
Headline answer: A waste of federal grant money.
This whole situation smells to high heaven. They need to get rid of the fire boat and use that money to purchase 2 or more fire vehicles that are really needed like Detroit and then get rid of that vol fire dept who really stink and replace them with another one that can do the job,period.
Federal Grant program: Fail
Fire Department: Fail
The federal progam obviously needs an overhaul & much more oversight. The goal shouldn’t be “we have x amount of money to give away, let’s do it all”. Especially in a situation like this, the other authories being affected (USCG, Philly, etc.) should be contacted to see if they, in fact, are on board with the plan. (Get it? on board!! I slay myself) I know if it was my 3/4 mil going there, I’d sure as hell check it out.
From the FD side, I’m not sure where to start. Complete lack of foresight about how they were going to afford to operate & maintain the boat. The local municipality seems to have longstanding, recurring issues with the outfit. In PA, that’s where a good chunk of your money comes from, so you might want to work a bit harder on having those folks on your side. Didn’t see any level-headed comments from FD sources explaining their side of things. Are there any???
That’s an interesting column, and certainly makes me think the associated costs for a department to “get into the boat business.” With homeland security monies lo this last decade, I wonder how many departments have found themselves surprised (or even strapped) after a grant got them into the _____ business?
How fair/biased does the article read to you, Dave? And, maybe more importantly, how objective/subjective should such a piece be, in such cases as these?
mjl
This is a columnist’s view of the situation. Hence the opinion within the article.
Statter
This whole grant system needs an overhaul seriously.
When you have paid depts raking in millions and VFD’s that can’t accept a grant due not having the matching funds. Just for grants in the 10′s of thousands. These are the same VFD’s that have members buying fuel for the trucks, 3rd hand gear, and the station is a barn with a gravel floor.
Vollie dept up the road got a grant for a ladder, when they have a ladder less than a mile away. Yeah it belongs to another dept. So we want one! Said ladder is a few years old now and never been used other than parades.
These fools and their boat. WoW!
Hmmm, to start off with being nitpicky, the “president’s” flag is backwards.
And if this is the second suspension, is anyone thinking that maybe some leadership is lacking higher up than just the fire company?
As for the boat, most have said it already. Just because someone can write a grant fulfilling some bureaucrat’s requirements, does not mean that grant is really being well spent, as it appears in this case. The former chief sure didn’t convince me that MY tax dollars were well spent.
We see vids of departments in Arkansas with no gear, Detroit with burned up gear, Highland Park responding to commercial fires with 1/10th the equipment and manpower that any other metro department would dispatch, and these jackwagons get a million bucks for a boat. Lovely
A million for a fireboat? A neighboring department (with a substantial multi-island exposure and plenty of pleasure craft to deal with) bought a similar boat 10 years ago for less than half that – and even with inflation the same boat today will only come in around $550K.
The taxpayers got snookered on that one twice – once with the grant, and once with what was purchased.
You can get a straight fireboat for well less than a million, but, when you add on all the crime-fighting bells and whistles to make it a fire/police boat, that price tag jumps up quickly. Kinda like the difference between buying a straight engine or a dry ladder versus buying a tricked-out quint.
Plus you get that oh-so-macho periwinkle paint job.
Who cares about the Fire Boat… These Guys Have 3 yes i said three Hummer H3′s for command trucks, is this really necessary? These guys are good for one thing, WASTING MONEY
Really, this department was able to justify this boat, especially being that close to Philadelphia. This would be a good one for DHS to do an audit on. Think someone might have extended the truth a little in the grant request.
PLEASE, IS THERE SOMEONE OUT THERE IN DHS WHO REALLY CARES ABOUT WASTED MONEY AND PROGRAMS? IF SO, PLEASE CHECK THIS OUT AND SEE IF THE TRUTH WAS EXTENDED, NICE WAY TO PUT IT ANONYMOUS, BUT WE WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE IF NOT THE TRUTH?
These guys need to stay closed and never open again,I could tell you stuff that would spin your head about that company,Carmichael’s one of the BIGGEST PROBLEMS, he’s a Mahan crony.
Dave, publish the whole article from the Philadelphia Inquirer Investigative Reporter for all your loyal followers to read. Or at least put the link in your article (I could not find it) It goes on for eight pages. Too hard to believe that no one is looking into this total waste of our tax money. The boats being abandoned, they are looking for an agency to take and USE it, PFD is considering now.
It would be a copyright violation for me to publish the whole thing. I will check on the link. Thought I did have it but it’s possible I missed it.
Found the link to the whole Investigative reprter’s article,
many pages too hard to believe, when so many deserving companies are out there with poor gear/equipment here is this waste:
http://articles.philly.com/2012-07-30/news/32924329_1_dream-boat-armored-car-union-chiefs
The link was in the article. Didn’t think I was that asleep when I wrote it, but it’s possible.