Vandergrift's 2 fire departments, short on money and manpower, explore merging

When called upon, Vandergrift No. 2 firefighters almost always arrive at an emergency scene in short order.

But, in just a couple of years, by Chief Albert Wells’ estimation, the dwindling department could have trouble getting its sole engine out the door.

That’s part of why it’s exploring a merger with its downtown counterpart, Vandergrift No. 1, in a bid to keep service levels steady.

“Neither one of us has people knocking on the doors to get in,” Wells said.

Vandergrift Council signed off on a merger study request last week, inviting in technical assistance from the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development to examine the feasibility of combining the departments.

The study is free, and its recommendations are non-binding.

The organizations already have a sense of what working together might entail, often training and taking calls together, according to Vandergrift No. 1 Chief Randy Dunmire.

His department is the more active of the two, responding to 210 calls last year. Vandergrift No. 2, by comparison, was only dispatched 140 times last year, in part because it lacks all but the most basic rescue gear.

Despite the mismatched call volumes, the departments are even at about 30 members each, with roughly half suiting up on a regular basis. Only seven of Vandergrift No. 1’s firefighters, Dunmire noted, made it to 50 or more calls last year.

“It’s tough,” Dunmire said. “Calls happen all hours of the day and night, and people have children and stuff.”

Weekends, somewhat counterintuitively, can be the most challenging in terms of manpower.

Funding woes are also driving merger interest as the cost of gear and apparatus soar.

New fire trucks, for instance, have gone from about $500,000 to $1 million in the past 15 years.

Both departments operate on less than $100,000 a year to cover utilities, equipment maintenance, insurance, training, fuel and more. Those figures do not account for grants, like the $10,000 award Vandergrift No. 1 recently received to buy new rescue jumpsuits.

In these lean times, especially in a town of 5,000 or so people, it doesn’t make any sense to be “competing for people’s donations,” Dunmire said.

Volunteer fire departments across Western Pennsylvania are facing rising costs and declining membership, steering some toward collaborative solutions.

More than 50 fire departments across the state are working with the Department of Community and Economic Development on consolidation studies, according to spokesperson Justin Backover, a slight increase from past counts provided by the agency.

Backover touted mergers and consolidations as “creating stronger, more efficient and sustainable emergency response organizations” by combining resources and expertise.

Neither Vandergrift fire chief had many details about what formally joining forces might look like — the point of the study is to figure them out. Wells did note, however, his department owns a parcel near the intersection of Longfellow Street and Route 56 that could house a newly built, combined fire station.

By and large, though, “we have no idea how we’re merging or what we need to,” Wells said.

If it doesn’t work out, he added, “we’ll still serve the community the way we are right now.”