Montgomery Township’s Board of Supervisors has voted to hire eleven additional career firefighters, writes Brandon Goldner for CBS News Philadelphia.
The vote was in response to a volunteer shortage that has pushed weekend emergency response times beyond national standards. The new hires would be funded through a new “fire tax,” which the board approved for creation, with a final vote scheduled for the December 15 meeting.
The township’s five career firefighters usually respond to emergencies in about five minutes, well under the national standard of nine minutes, according to Montgomery Township Fire Chief Bill Wiegman. However, volunteers, who cover the weekend shifts, can sometimes take more than ten minutes to respond.
“Not only are you decreasing victim survivability and allowing for fire [to] spread, you’re also putting your people in greater danger,” said Wiegman.
According to the department’s internal data, Montgomery Township had roughly 34 volunteers in 2015 who met the township’s firefighting standards. This year, that number has dropped to only 11.
Wiegman’s goal is to maintain a truck staffed full-time by career firefighters, but that level of coverage would demand a tax hike that could raise the annual costs for local homeowners by as much as $500.
Read more about the decision in CBS News Philadelphia.
