Bristol Borough Voices Concern Over Bristol Twp.’s Rescue Squad Plan

The impact that last week’s surprise announcement on a plan to remove the Bucks County Rescue Squad from its primary coverage area in Bristol Township filled Monday evening’s Bristol Borough Council meeting.

As LevittownNow.com first reported last week, Bristol Township Council is planning to vote this Thursday on an ordinance that would remove the 80-year-old rescue squad from its Bristol Township coverage area and replace it with the Levittown-Fairless Hills Rescue Squad. If the plan moves forward, the Bucks County Rescue Squad would only have its primary coverage area in Bristol Borough, leaving the organization’s future in jeopardy.

The township on Monday cited “serious concerns over the administration” and a “bad situation” as the reason it is looking to replace the Bucks County Rescue Squad starting July 1.

Bristol Borough officials first learned of the township’s plan when contacted by a reporter from this news organization last Wednesday.

“It truly impacts us and could create a public health crisis in the entire county,” said Bristol Borough Mayor Joe Saxton during the Council meeting.”I really hope that Bristol Township thinks this over before acting on this at Thursday’s meeting.”

“We’re not just going to wait until Thursday’s meeting and get caught,” said Council President Ralph DiGuiseppe II.

Bristol Borough Council is going to take on a proactive approach, DiGuiseppe assured members of the public who voiced their concern over the matter.

Members of the rescue squad itself were present at Monday night’s meeting.

Harry Crohe, a Bristol Borough resident and longtime volunteer member of the rescue squad, said the first news he heard about any changes at all coming to the Bucks County Rescue Squad landed about a month ago.

“I don’t know what cloud they’re on, but it isn’t ours,” Crohe said, referring to the officials in Bristol Township who might be making the decision to dissolve the squad.

Referencing a statement put out by Bristol Township on Monday, Crohe said that placing an ambulance in the Third District Fire Company station wouldn’t be enough to serve the residents of the borough.

“It’s like dissolving your police department and hiring a single security guard,” Crohe said.

Contrary to Bristol Township Manager Bill McCauley’s assessment, service quality would indeed drop, Crohe said.

McCauley also said the rescue squad was “financially distressed” and noted that a 2014 $79,000 grant was provided through the township on behalf of the organization. However, sources close to the rescue squad said their finances have been steady in the past few years and they are not suffering problems like McCauley hinted to in his statement.

Bristol Borough residents overwhelmingly seemed to support the rescue squad. In a recent referendum, voters in town overwhelmingly agreed to raise their own taxes in support of the rescue squad, officials said.

“You don’t know how grateful I am because people in the borough voted overwhelmingly to raise their own taxes for the rescue squad,” Crohe said.

The rescue squad’s new Chief Martin Liczbinski was also present at the meeting. His message was simply asking people of the borough to come out to Thursday’s Bristol Township 7 p.m. Council meeting in support of the rescue squad.

“I want them to know that there is a huge community behind us,” he said.

“I will spend my dying breath standing up for the Bucks County Rescue Squad,” Crohe said. “We’re not flipping hamburgers, we’re saving lives.”

Publisher Tom Sofield contributed to this report.