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Questions over a suspended Paxtang fire department’s leadership abilities after one of its captains was accused of driving fire trucks without a license are “personal attacks” from borough officials, the department said on Friday.
Paxtang Fire Co. No. 1 issued a press release Friday morning in response to a Thursday press release from Paxtang Borough, saying the fire department’s president isn’t qualified to fill ranked positions.
The borough’s release came after former Paxtang fire Capt. Steven Bartholomew was charged with driving Paxtang fire trucks without a valid driver’s license to emergency and non-emergency incidents.
Swatara Township police charged Bartholomew on Wednesday with seven counts of forgery, 10 counts of recklessly endangering another person and 10 counts of driving without a license.
When township officers spoke with Paxtang Fire Co. President Gavin Ford on Tuesday, he told them he believed Bartholomew had extensive firefighting training and was qualified to supervise, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
But police said they were unable to find any official paperwork confirming Bartholomew had a valid license in Pennsylvania or any other state. Seven other certificates or courses that Bartholomew said he completed at the University of Maryland’s Fire and Rescue Institute were either canceled, nonexistent or did not list Bartholomew as a registered participant, according to the court documents.
Ford relied on the forged training documents to validate Bartholomew’s qualifications, the affidavit said.
“Based on Ford’s actions approving Bartholomew as Captain, Paxtang Borough Council believes that Fire Company President Gavin Ford is unqualified to act as Fire Company President, and he should not be making personnel decisions such as appointing Captains to supervise firefighters,” Paxtang Borough said in the Thursday release.
“The continued reckless and unaccountable actions by the Fire Company are the reasons why the Borough officials have been seeking to eject the Fire Company from the Paxtang Municipal Building to provide relief to the Borough Taxpayer,” the release said.
In its Friday response, Paxtang Fire Co. said department officials have been cooperating with police throughout the investigation and immediately suspended Bartholomew when the accusations against him were raised.
“As part of the Paxtang Fire Company’s ongoing legal proceedings with the borough of Paxtang, personal attacks on members of the fire company by the borough council and management have been occurring weekly despite having a court-ordered facility use agreement which authorizes the fire company to conduct business inside the fire department premises,” the department’s press release said.
Paxtang Fire Co. is based out of the Paxtang municipal building, despite multiple notices from the borough to vacate the building and cease emergency operations.
Paxtang Borough ended its agreement with Paxtang Fire Company No. 1 in August 2022 and hired Swatara Township Fire and Rescue to cover emergencies in the borough. After that, firefighters at Paxtang’s volunteer department responded only outside of Paxtang.
Then, Paxtang Borough Council in January 2023 suspended the fire company after the volunteer agency refused to sideline its fire chief, who’d been accused of stealing thousands of dollars from an unrelated HVAC job.
In June 2024 — long after that suspension — Paxtang officials told the fire company members to vacate the building and threatened to arrest any of them for “impersonating a public servant” if they continued to respond to emergencies.
Paxtang Borough said on Thursday that it would be taking action to block Bartholomew from accessing its municipal building or responding to emergency calls in light of the criminal charges against him. But Paxtang Fire Co. said on Friday that Bartholomew resigned and no longer has any affiliation with the department.
“Paxtang Fire Company No. 1 is thankful for all the support from our community and stakeholders,” the department’s press release said. “We are equally upset by these types of actions, and we’re committed to being transparent in working towards bettering our organization. Our motto is ‘Our Duty to Act’ and we as an organization want to answer the calls for service.”
Bartholomew’s preliminary hearing is scheduled in January, according to online court documents. A trial is also scheduled for January regarding the Paxtang Fire Co.’s operating out of the municipal building.
Staff writers Madison Montag and Zahriah Balentine contributed to this report.
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