Despite Outcry, PA Council Decertifies 117-year-old Volunteer Fire Company

Jun. 14—A roomful of Arnold residents appeared to go through many of the seven stages of grief before the city's council voted Tuesday to decertify the older of its two volunteer fire departments.

Residents were in shock and angry that council was considering decertifying the 117-year-old Citizens Volunteer Fire Company No. 1, commonly known as the Arnold No. 1 fire department.

The decertification immediately prevents the department from responding to fire calls. It passed on a 3-2 vote, with Mayor Joe Bia II and Councilman Phil McKinley voting no.

Arnold No. 2, which will mark its centennial next year, remains to cover the city. Its leaders said fire protection and emergency response will not be adversely affected.

"Immediate actions have been taken to ensure appropriate resources are available for any emergency for which the fire department would be requested," the department said in a statement.

Before the vote, several residents tried to bargain with council, calling for the decision to be delayed until a new mayor and council are seated after November's election. They also asked for council to arrange for a merger of the two departments, or to put the decision up to the community through a referendum.

Karen Peconi, a former mayor, asked for the vote to be delayed. She argued that a merger is the answer.

"We're all one, anyway. If the whistle goes off, we all fight together," she said. "We need to stop and take a breath."

Joe Palumbo said he had been a firefighter for 42 of his 45 years of living in Arnold.

"I don't like any of this bull right now," he said. "The people of this city should have the right to sit there and say decertify, don't decertify — not you guys.

"You don't even have any connections with the fire departments. You don't know what goes on in these fire departments. You don't know how hard these guys work to get money to get their equipment, because you don't pay for it. If you had to go to a paid fire service, you couldn't afford it."

Acceptance seemed to come when No. 1 Chief Walter Gouza III addressed the room after hearing everything that had been said. What he had to tell them, he said, pained him.

Gouza had been the chief for eight years, gave it up for a year and had to return after his brother, former chief Brian Gouza, was removed from the department over charges of financial misdeeds.

The department's membership has declined, he said. Life members are running its club, but others who had been asked to step up on the fire side quit.

"People in my organization know that I didn't want to come back as fire chief, because I didn't have time," he said. "To be a volunteer fire chief, it's a thankless job and it's a ton of hours. It's a full-time job that you don't get paid for. I do not have that time, especially because of the lack of membership, that's even more responsibility."

Gouza, whose job requires shift work, said if the department continued, he and another officer were not going to stay.

"We're sitting here arguing over something that, unfortunately, there's nothing that we can control," he said. "I cannot drag people into this building. Even the members that we have, I couldn't physically drag them into this building. I could not force them to do fundraising. We have requirements to be a member. You don't make the requirements, they kicked you out."

During his years as chief, Gouza said, the department took on perhaps 50 volunteers — none of whom remain today.

"There's nobody left," he said. "We could sit here and recruit all day long. Good luck. You don't think other fire companies are recruiting with minimal results?"

Councilman George Hawdon, in charge of public safety, said he has been discussing the problems at No. 1 with the leaders of both departments since February.

"There has been a precipitous drop in the membership and in the number of firefighters responding per call," he said. "The membership has failed to maintain certifications and trainings. There have been discrepancies in the documentation needed to maintain nonprofit status."

Two of the department's top five responding members have resigned, he said.

Hawdon said the report comes at an inopportune time, as an audit that will determine what property owners pay for insurance will be done this summer, leaving no time to wait.

"We cannot have a fire company that is operating at less-than-peak efficiency," he said.

While McKinley argued that decertifying the department will cause insurance rates to increase, Hawdon said that would be the case if council didn't decertify it.

With No. 2 covering the city, Hawdon said, rates will remain the same or go down.

Chris O'Leath, a spokesman for Arnold No. 2, said No. 1 has not had a working fire engine since October. It has been borrowing an engine from New Kensington, which he said would not count as Arnold's equipment in determining its readiness and insurance rates.

"What will hurt us is if there (are) two fire stations and if one of them doesn't have its own fire engine," he said.

Hawdon said they can't force the departments to merge.

"We can no more merge them than we can make Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts merge. They are separate organizations," he said. "If they wish to merge, that would be entirely up to the membership of those two organizations."

Hawdon said the firefighters with No. 1 remain firefighters, and the status of life members is not affected.

No. 2 Chief Eric Gartley said members of No. 1 would be able to apply to join his department.

"I understand that you have spent much of your life with this organization. This organization has been part of this city for 120 years," Hawdon said. "I know that. Some of the most honored members of this community have been members of No. 1. This is not something that we are doing lightly."

Gouza said he is grateful to have served the community for as long as he did.

"You might be having this conversation in five more years about No. 2, or 10 more years," he said. "I hope not."

Brian C. Rittmeyer is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Brian by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .

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