PA Fire Chief Wants Report to Spark Change

Dec. 1 -- Wilkes-Barre Fire Chief Jay Delaney held up the just-released report on the state of emergency services in Pennsylvania and issued a challenge.

“This could either be a dust collector or a proposition to change and enhance emergency response services in Pennsylvania,” Delaney said.

Over the past year, Delaney took part in the 39-person commission that authored the report, which claims fire and rescue services in Pennsylvania are at a crisis level due to a drop in volunteers, lack of funding and training challenges.

The report noted the state had 300,000 volunteer firefighters in the 1970s and that figure has dropped to just around 38,000 today.

“How do you go from 300,000 to 38,000 and still get the job done?” Delaney asked.

Delaney is president of the Pennsylvania Career Fire Chiefs Association.

The report dealt with both career and volunteer emergency responders.

Delaney noted various community ambulances have folded in Luzerne County in recent years, requiring ambulances from farther distances to respond to emergencies.

“If you think when you’re having a heart attack, an extra five minutes doesn’t matter, that could be your life,” Delaney said.

Members of the commission that authored the report included state senators, state representatives, and career and volunteer members of the emergency services.

The report, which offers 29 recommendations, asks the state to do more to train and fund both career and volunteer services. The report suggests a unified recruiting program, tax incentives, and the encouragement of regionalization.

One suggestion was to give employers incentives to allow employees time off to train to serve in the emergency services, like with National Guard members.

Another was starting programs at local colleges to allow emergency service work to count toward general education requirements, like a new program at Bloomsburg University.

Years ago, an emergency medical technician class might costs $25, but these days they could exceed $700, Delaney said.

The report said volunteer numbers are dropping due to “burnout.”

Volunteers often have to raise money to fund their departments with little or no financial help from their municipality, the report said. In many cases, they raise money to pay for their own training and equipment just to be a volunteer, the report said.

While cities like Wilkes-Barre pay for the training, that money could be used elsewhere if the state kicked in more for training, Delaney said.

“The cost of emergency response training has become extremely expensive,” Delaney said.

Delaney noted a similar report was issued in 2004 and many of the same recommendations are included in this report, meaning little was done in that area.

“This is showing where we are at today and what we can do to fix it tomorrow. The issues we have continue to get worse. There has not been a lot done to help fix these issues,” Delaney said. “The state has to start helping.”

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