Nov 23, 2018 4 min read

For literally decades on these pages, we have been encouraging local governments to consolidate wherever possible. In a perfect world, some of our smaller communities would merge, though that rarely happens. But at the very least, local governments and quasi-government organizations should be looking at ways in which they can collaborate, while saving money and strengthening operations.

One such move seems to be afoot in the Washington area, where the fire departments in Canton Township, South Strabane Township and the city of Washington are eyeing the possible creation of a fire district.

Washington has a paid firefighting force and South Strabane pairs career firefighters with volunteers. Canton, on the other hand, is fully dependent on volunteers, and these days, it’s difficult to maintain a fire department that way.

According to a recent story by the Observer-Reporter’s Katie Anderson, for the past eight months, Canton has been paying active members of its department $12 for each emergency call to which they respond. Canton’s township manager, Stephanie Pettit, said the move has not attracted new recruits to the department, but it has increased the number of current firefighters who respond to calls.

“We have, on average, six or seven firefighters per call,” Pettit said. “We were down to three sometimes. For a volunteer fire company to have an average of seven people to show up for a call is actually pretty good.”

In March, when the effort began, 183 volunteers showed up to 25 calls. Two months later, 230 volunteers responded to 29 calls, and in September, Pettit said, 282 people responded to 34 calls.

But it’s not the answer to all of Canton’s issues in attracting and retaining firefighters.

“It’s not a permanent fix, but it’s better than it has been,” she said. “It’s just a fix temporarily until we can figure out what we’re going to do to change what’s happening with volunteer fire service. Some of these guys are not going to be there forever. The people that are joining are a younger crew, but it’s not enough.”

South Strabane also is looking at ways to boost its group of volunteers. Last month, township supervisors OK’d an ordinance that establishes a volunteer firefighter “credit program.” Active volunteers will receive a 20 percent reduction in the portion of their real estate tax bill that goes to the township, and also would qualify for a $500 earned income tax credit. The volunteers would have to respond to a certain number of calls per quarter, along with participating in fundraisers and training.

Still, a regionalization of the fire service in the three communities could have a much greater impact.

Fire Chief Dave Gump said Canton’s pay-per-call effort has “not really shown too much improvement for us.”

“The answer is a paycheck,” said Gump. “That’s what it’s going to take.”

The chief said creating a regional firefighting unit would demand considerable incentives, with each department having to “pull its own weight.”

“You have to raise taxes, and nobody wants to hear that,” said Gump. “But we’re fighting fires with four or five guys, and that’s not safe for anybody.”

As for now, the idea of creating a regional fire district is in a very preliminary stage. South Strabane, Washington and Canton’s fire department – which is not “under the township’s umbrella,” Pettit noted – would have to submit letters of intent before the state Department of Community and Economic Development would get involved with the effort.

We encourage all three entities to take the next steps required to at least study this issue, because when it comes to responding to fires, it is literally a life-and-death situation.