Apr 8, 2022 5 min read

The South Strabane Fire Department will soon have a new chief.

After interviewing several candidates, township supervisors will vote to make Jordan Cramer the department head at their April 19 meeting. Cramer is currently the fire inspector for Peters Township Fire Department, where he has worked since 2009.

“Jordan was selected to serve as our next fire chief because he brings a solid background and experience providing for community fire rescue and EMS services. His strong leadership and experience with combination department operations and his organizational development skillset will set us up for a strong, sustainable future in providing fire and EMS services to the community,” township manager Brandon Stanick said.

Cramer will join the fire department on April 14, prior to next supervisors meeting. The board will retroactively approve his appointment, Stanick said.

Originally, outgoing chief Scott Reese planned to retire April 4, but he agreed to stay on until Cramer starts.

“He gave us a couple more weeks, because he’s a good man,” Stanick said. “He’ll make himself available to Jordan and myself should anything come up.”

According to Stanick, the township received 16 applicants for the job, and the hiring committee initially interviewed six in March.

That committee was comprised of the Bob Weber, chair of the board of supervisors, Stanick, Supervisor Russell Grego, North Strabane Fire Chief Mark Grimm, fire department President Cory Gaiser, Washington County Director of Public Safety Jerry Coleman and three firefighters.

For Cramer, South Strabane is an opportunity to lead a department made up of both career and volunteer firefighters

“I’ve been fortunate to get a lot of experience at Peters Township through combination fire systems. I actually teach a course nationally for the International Association of Fire Chiefs that has a strong emphasis on volunteer and career fire operations that are working within the same organization. That can be a difficult, tricky subject. That’s something that I’ve taken a focus on throughout my career,” Cramer said.

“South Strabane has all of the building blocks ready to form a department that’s sustainable for the future and providing the best services for its residents, but this is a crucial time to have the right person in the role to take them to that level,” he added.

Cramer lauded the Peters Township Fire Department, which he called, “one of the premier fire service departments in the state,” and said his time there was a great learning opportunity.

Coming to South Strabane, however, there is tension between the fire department and the township.

Last fall, the fire department sent letters out to all South Strabane residents criticizing the supervisors and Stanick for withholding its quarterly payments to the tune of $110,000

At the time, Stanick said the payments were withheld because the township was not being satisfied with the quality of service being provided by the fire department.

In 2020 the township spent $15,000 to commission a study on how to improve fire service. The study had the cooperation of both township officials and the department.

When the final report came back, it called for an overhaul to the department’s organizational structure, suggesting it be governed by a committee of two supervisors, the township manager, the fire chief, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 5006, a citizen representative and three representatives of the volunteer side of the department.

The department rejected this proposal, arguing it placed too much power in the hands of the township and left firefighters, both volunteer and career, with little input.

Cramer said he hopes to be able to get everyone back on the same page.

“I plan to come into this sitting down with everybody that’s involved in the organization, listening to them, and kind of showing them where I’m at, what I look towards. But it’s time to come together as one organization, regardless of whether you’re a career firefighter, or volunteer firefighter, so that we can serve the community and the stakeholders,” he said. “This is a crucial turning point for the organization that we move together as one department into the future.”

Though Peters and South Strabane are both combination departments, Cramer said the geographical differences between the communities will be an adjustment.

“We face a little bit of a rural type (of) area in South Strabane, so we could go from fighting a fire at a barn where we don’t have fire hydrants close enough, to going to a mid-rise type of apartment building. You got a wide array of calls – everything from fires and hazardous materials incidents to significant accidents on the multiple interstates that run through South Strabane. It’s really quite an intersection of different call types that most communities in Washington County don’t face. In Peters, we’re dealing with mainly a suburban area that’s fairly populated,” Cramer said.

Once Cramer has settled into the role and the supervisors make his appointment official, Stanick said the township plans to hold a community meet and greet with him to field questions and listen to concerns.