Newportville Fire Company Removed From Service By Bristol Twp. Council

Bristol Township Council voted 5-2 Thursday night to adopt an ordinance reducing the township’s recognized volunteer fire districts from five to four.

The vote starts a 30-day countdown for the Newportville Fire Company to be removed from emergency dispatches.

Once the period ends, the fire company will no longer be permitted to respond to emergencies in the township. The county’s 9-1-1 Center will be made aware of the decision.

As part of the newly redrawn boundaries, the Croydon, Edgely, Levittown No. 2, and Third District fire companies will remain as the township’s volunteer fire providers. They will be supplemented in the daytime hours by the career staff of Bristol Township Fire Rescue. Third District is set to absorb the largest share of Newportville’s former territory.

While the ordinance takes effect in 30 days, the remaining fire companies are ready to take on calls sooner, township officials said.

The decision, according to township officials, does not create a public safety risk and all emergency calls will continue to be answered.

“Every address in Bristol Township remains inside an assigned primary volunteer fire district,” Township Manager Randee Mazur said. “No neighborhood is left without a primary company.”

Tensions between the township and 99-year-old Newportville date back to a 2019 fire study by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. The study cited severe issues with recruitment, retention, finances, and response times, and recommended a merger or consolidation with Third District Fire Company.

Township officials said that while Newportville initially expressed interest, talks stalled. Other local volunteer companies voted against merging with Newportville, and no other volunteer fire companies pursued a partnership.

Township officials also pointed to a pending case involving former chief and treasurer Fred Black, who has been charged with the alleged misappropriation of more than $30,000 in fire company and taxpayer funds.

Council stated the alleged financial crime was not the main basis for their decision, but part of a larger record involving response reliability, governance, and organizational stability.

Mazur showed the public data indicating that between 2016 and 2025, Newportville arrived first on only four of 24 working fire incidents in its own first-due district. It arrived second on eight calls, third on five calls, and fourth or later on seven calls. Newportville also recorded 64 no-response incidents in 2025, up from 26 in 2023.

Two specific incidents were cited in the presentation. One on Rittenhouse Circle where a Bensalem apparatus arrived at a building fire ahead of Newportville’s truck, which arrived 24 minutes after the initial dispatch, and the other a multi-alarm fire at Levittown Trace where residents were reported trapped. Newportville’s apparatus arrived 20 minutes after dispatch. Three firefighters were injured and 12 units were deemed uninhabitable.

Councilmember Joe Glasson later said the township has faced the threat of litigation due to slow responses from Newportville, including one related to the Levittown Trace fire.

Glasson and Council President Craig Bowen told reporters that operational problems and misuse of resources at Newportville stretch back more than a decade before Black’s arrest, citing a previous arrest of a member.

Officials said that Newportville’s Station 12 on New Falls Road has not been used for emergency responses since 2019, with nearly all trucks coming out of Station 82 on Bath Road.

Newportville Fire Company Chief Ryan Cummings pushed back against the presentation, arguing the township failed to give the full picture.

“Council is being asked to eliminate an entire fire protection district,” Cummings said. “That’s an extraordinary decision. So every major conclusion used to justify that decision should be supported by evidence — not assumptions, not opinions, not ‘we believe,’ but proof.”

Addressing the Levittown Trace fire, Cummings said a captain arrived first and started search and rescue efforts before the truck arrived because lives were at stake.

“You showed Levittown Trace, the fire company getting there — what, 18 minutes into it? But you didn’t paint the whole picture,” he said.

Newportville’s battalion chief stated the company was not opposed to merging, but rejected an “impossible” June 1 deadline. She added that Third District declined to proceed partly because Newportville used the word “consolidation” instead of “merger” in written correspondence.

Leadership acknowledged past shortcomings but said there have been significant operational and response improvements recently.

Shortly before the council vote, Newportville members briefly left the meeting room to handle an emergency call before returning.

Residents packed the meeting chamber after a campaign by Newportville that included a town hall, door-to-door canvassing, and mailers.

A petition with more than 750 signatures supporting the company was submitted to council.

Many residents urged council to grant a probationary period rather than shutting the company down.

“I don’t understand why you’re punishing people that do put their lives at risk by shutting them down rather than giving them a period — whether it’s 9 months, a year, 2 years — and actually having measurable data, measurable goals that they can hit,” an E Avenue resident said.

Others voiced concerns about longer response times for the remaining fire companies as they absorb additional volume.

According to the township, calls from 2025 would be redistributed with Third District having 286 additional calls, Croydon getting 62 additional calls, Levittown No. 2 responding to 61 additional calls, and Edgely going to 34 additional calls.

“This is not punishment,” Councilmember Patrick Antonello said. “This is what the future is, whether you like it or not. By having five fire departments, we’re diluting that manpower. What we need to do is consolidate, take that manpower and appropriately apply it.”

Councilmember Maryann Wagner added: “It’s our duty to make the best decision with the information that we have been given.”

Following the 5-2 vote, a woman in the audience wiped away tears, and a man shouted “shame on you.”

One less fire company means the four remaining ones will split Newportville’s fire tax revenue, which will equal about $50,000 extra per year, officials said.

Glasson, a 48-year volunteer firefighter and member of Levittown No. 2, told LevittownNow.com he consulted the township solicitor prior to the meeting and was advised there was no conflict of interest in voting. He holds no leadership role at Levittown No. 2.

Newportville members previously stated that the removal of the company from the township’s response roster would force the company to close.

Because Newportville owns both its Station 12 on New Falls Road and Station 82 on Bath Road, decisions regarding the properties and equipment remain with the organization.

Bowen stated the fire company may continue using the New Falls Road location to host events and rent its hall.

Glasson remarked after the meeting that he hopes Newportville considers donating proceeds from any future sale of real estate or equipment to the township’s remaining fire companies.

“Most of it is taxpayer money,” he added.

Following the vote, Newportville leadership declined to comment and members gathered at their Bath Road station.