Open house at Plum's Renton fire station will show all the ways volunteers can help

There are more ways than being a firefighter for residents to help their local volunteer fire department.

Plum’s Renton Volunteer Fire Department hopes to get that message out through an upcoming open house at their station.

“Obviously, we need members. We need volunteers, and there’s a lot of different positions that people can volunteer for,” Renton fire Lt. Chuck Carroll said. “Not only firefighters, there’s workforce. There are people that can help us with our fish fries, our fundraising activities.

“Twenty years ago, we had a lot of members and today we don’t. That’s a problem with all fire companies, not only in Plum but all across the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

The open house is from noon to 4 p.m. Aug. 3 at the Renton fire station, located on Mike Thomas Way next to the borough municipal center.

The event will include activities, tours of the facility, opportunities to talk with members, and food and beverages. There will be games for kids and fire prevention materials.

“There’s a lot of things you can do for the fire department,” Renton fire President Anita Maydak said.

As an example, she said those with business sense could help the department with financial matters.

“New ideas are always welcome,” she said.

Another way to help is to serve as fire police, the people who direct traffic and help with crowd control at fire scenes, Maydak said. They are sworn in by the mayor and can serve anywhere in the borough.

“They’re not going into burning buildings, but they are essential,” she said.

Younger people looking to go into the medical field can start with the department’s emergency medical technician program.

“We pay for the training. They get the free training, that background that they can build on,” she said. “We’ve had members who went on to Kansas City, to Pittsburgh, to different places and get good jobs. We’re proud of them. We’re proud to be the foundation.”

The department has a junior firefighter program, where teens can start at 14 and become full firefighters when they turn 18.

“In your communities where you live, your fire departments need your service whether that’s by donation or whether it’s by offering help, we could use it,” Carroll said.

As of July 8, Carroll said, the Renton fire department had responded to 135 fire calls in 2024, which he said is a lot. Their average response time is five minutes.

“Hopefully, this opportunity to have the open house will do us very well,” he said. “We’re looking forward to entertaining the folks of the community and showing them what we can do and what they can do for their community.”