North Bessemer Volunteer Fire Department gets early birthday gift to repair parking lot

For its 100th birthday, the North Bessemer Volunteer Fire Department in Penn Hills was gifted $125,000 toward repaving its parking lot.

And while it’s not the flashiest way to celebrate a centennial, John Zacchia, president of the fire department, said fixing the deeply rutted, debris-laden and otherwise uneven pavement will protect his firefighters when they rush to answer a call.

“There are more work-related injuries in the fire service from things like trips and falls than there are burning buildings,” Zacchia noted.

More than 63,000 firefighters were injured in the line of duty in 2023, according to the National Fire Protection Association, about half of which occurred during training, nonemergency duties or responding to or returning from a call.

Only about 19,000 incidents happened at the scene of a fire.

Repaving the lot surrounding the North Bessemer Volunteer Fire Department, located at the intersection of Leechburg Road and Sutton Drive, will cost between $150,000 and $175,000. That means the state award, announced earlier this month, won’t cover everything.

The department, known by county dispatch as Penn Hills Station 223, sought more than it got from the Gaming Economic Development Tourism Fund, which directs gambling revenues to municipalities, nonprofits and several other types of entities.

“We’re still gonna have to pay, whether it be out of our operating budget or additional grant funding,” Zacchia said.

Penn Hills provides the station with about $64,000 a year — enough to cover some day-to-day expenses, but hardly sufficient for all the capital needs of a department that was dispatched nearly 700 times last year.

At a November budget hearing, Chief John Capone unsuccessfully asked council for more funding to, among other things, pave near the station.

“Anything that says fire on it goes up and up and up,” he said at the time.

Donations and grants have been, and will continue to be, critical for major purchases, such as a $700,000 custom fire engine purchased in 2021.

As for the station’s birthday, Zacchia said the community can expect some festivities later in the year.

The department is planning a banquet for members and invited guests. On Oct. 4, it will hold its annual open house.

Until recently, a demonstration medical helicopter landing was the main draw at the open house. Though it hasn’t been used this way in at least five years because of North Bessemer’s proximity to trauma centers, the lot is designated as a helipad.

Concerns over flying debris put the kibosh on any educational landings.

This year, if the lot is done, “we’re definitely bringing it back,” Zacchia said.