The Montgomery Township Board of Supervisors voted earlier this week to approve increasing the number of full-time career firefighters on staff, write Alicia Roberts and Tom Gardiner for CBS News Philadelphia.
However the board did not approve hiring of a consultant to oversee the process, which was proposed by one of the members, Tanya Bamford.
Bamford explained that while she knows those fire protection services are essential and required, her main role is fiscal oversight.
“We just want to make sure we are doing that with a lot of integrity, a lot of transparency,” she said, “and that’s why I wanted to bring in a consultant.”
At this time, Montgomery Township has five full-time paid firefighters as well as 69 volunteers, most of whom do not have much availability. Bill Wiegman, the fire chief for Montgomery Township, has formally proposed increasing the full-time staff to 24 beginning next year.
“We have a great group of dedicated volunteers,” he said. “Unfortunately, due to situations that are out of their control, we are just losing volunteers, and we wanted to put a plan together that addresses the gap in public safety.”
Read more about the full-time firefighters coming to Montgomery Township at CBS News Philadelphia.
