Middletown Adds Paid Daytime Firefighters To Aid Volunteer Companies

In addition to its contingent of dedicated volunteer firefighters, Middletown now has a paid crew who are certified to fight flames during the busy daytime hours.

Starting this week, the Middletown Fire Marshal’s Office began staffing daytime firefighters to aid volunteer fire companies with calls throughout the 45,000-resident, 19-square-mile municipality.

Using fire engines leased from the Penndel and William Penn fire companies during the daytime hours and a fire marshal’s office special service truck, a team of fire inspectors who can bust blazes will go to all calls in the township that require the response of firefighters between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. The daytime crews will not replace volunteer firefighters but help ensure there is enough manpower during the hours when many volunteers are at their jobs and unable to respond to calls.

Fire Marshal Jim McGuire said Middletown has also offered the daytime response service to Langhorne, Langhorne Manor, Penndel, and Hulmeville boroughs as a courtesy. As of Thursday, Penndel and Hulmeville had given the green light for Middletown to send its fire marshal’s office to calls within their borders.

The fire marshal’s office has revamped their organizational structure to stay true to their inspection and investigation mission while also adding fire suppression to their duties. McGuire said the department is staffed by four full-time and three part-time employees with six per-diem staff being used as needed. All the staff members are certified firefighters, including one employee who will also handle administrative duties.

The need to add fire suppression duties to the fire marshal’s office or create a pricey dedicated full-time, full-service paid fire department has been looming in Middletown for more than a decade and has only grown in recent years.

While the township can still sustain without a 24-7 paid fire department, the daytime hours were in need of some support for consistent responses during business hours, McGuire said.

Getting enough volunteer firefighters to muster quickly for calls and recent increases in call volume due to township growth has begun to become an issue. McGuire said before the Board of Supervisors in July that more volunteer firefighters are still badly needed by the township’s four all-volunteer departments – Parkland, Penndel, Langhorne-Middletown, and William Penn – and the added fire marshal’s office response is only to aid during daytime hours.

In 2017, the Parkland Fire Company responded to 212 calls, Langhorne-Middletown Fire Company had 560 dispatches, and William Penn Fire Company handled 897 calls. In the most recent year where a list was available, Penndel responded to 514 calls for service, according to statistics from the volunteer organizations.

Penndel Fire Company Chief Chuck Fox said newer building materials mean fires spread through homes quicker and a speedy response is essential.

“The fire marshal’s office is going to be staffing the truck.,” he said. “There will be no delay to respond.”

Fox added that volunteer firefighters often travel from home or work to the fire station to get on a truck that will respond to call. While their response is quick, it will be hard to beat the time of an already staffed truck that is on the road.

“The township’s engine will be dispatched and we’ll be dispatched. We’re still coming to calls,” William Penn Fire Company Chief Andy Conaway said.

William Penn Fire Company President John Diegel, a 52-year firefighter, said his department has seen a decrease in volunteers active for daytime hours as jobs with shift work have left the area.

“This is going to be a benefit for the fire departments and township,” he said of the new service.

Parkland Fire Company Chief Bob Barnes echoed that decreases in daytime volunteers have made getting to calls more difficult.

Sources said there was some disagreement earlier this summer between the Langhorne-Middletown Fire Company and Middletown on the plan. This week, fire company President Kurt Geiselhart said those issues relating to being informed on the process have been resolved and firefighters are pleased to have extra help during the daytime hours.

Leasing two fire engines from the Penndel and William fire companies will cost the township $20 per year. The township, according to officials, will pick up the cost of insurance, fuel, maintenance, and equipment testing for those vehicles. However, McGuire noted that the township already pays for much of those costs for the volunteer fire companies and is just shifting the funds to his department’s budget.

As Supervisor Chairperson Amy Strouse noted at their July meeting, leasing the trucks will help the township avoid having to buy costly new trucks and equipment.

In Lower Bucks County, Bensalem, Bristol Township, Northampton, and Newtown townships all offer some form of paid daytime fire coverage to work in conjunction with area volunteer departments. Wrightstown parks a Lingohocken Fire Company response truck at their public works building so that department’s staff, who are also firefighters, can respond to calls in the community.

Supervisor William Oettinger, who works as the fire marshal in Lower Southampton, said during a July meeting that he is surprised Middletown went so long without having any type of paid firefighters.

The change in the fire marshal office’s responsibilities means staff can go right from an inspection at a business to fighting a fire or working the scene of a serious crash.

“We have a plan to make sure we can maximize efforts” for fire response and inspection duties, McGuire said.

In addition to fire calls, the new daytime firefighters will also respond to certain serious medical calls with the Penndel-Middletown Emergency Squad to offer assistance.