Published: October 27, 2009 02:47 pm      

Shade dispute underscores problems of local fire protection

THE TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT

The controversy swirling around fire protection for residents of Shade Township has stoked a hot issue, but certainly not a new one.

The Shade supervisors on Friday voted to contract with Richland Township for fire coverage. That followed a lengthy and contentious debate with firefighters from neighboring Central City, which had covered Shade until breaking off their deal over financial differences.

Richland Township Fire Department has set up a satellite station in Cairnbrook to serve Shade, and will be paid $23,700 per year by the township.

“We will no longer let the community be held hostage,” Shade supervisors Chairman John Topka said during a special meeting on the fire situation, held in a jam-packed township center.

Problem is, municipalities have long been held hostage by an expensive fire-protection system and small, local fire companies that are fearful of losing their identities.

In June 2005, this newspaper produced an in-depth, two-day series on the plight of local fire departments.

“State of Emergency?” investigated the common problems facing the region’s 76 companies – rising training costs, expensive equipment, declining volunteerism.

The award-winning series also offered a list of possible answers, one of which was merging smaller fire departments into regional companies to reduce the need for so much equipment in a small region, and to help offset the loss of volunteers.

One of the success stories then was the Richland Township department – a merger of the former Solomon Run, Belmont and Richland volunteer fire companies. Since then, nearby Geistown has turned its fire protection over to the Richland company as well.

Richland members have said the mergers led to lower costs and even improved response times.

George McCombie, a former president of the Solomon Run department, said the main obstacle to such a merger is parochial control, not concerns over the quality of service for a community.

“The biggest hurdle to overcome was giving up our own separate identities,” McCombie said then. “We were putting someone else’s name on our truck!”

Bob Heffelfinger, a Richland Township supervisor and the fire company president, saw the problem then as much bigger than the merger of several fire companies in his community.

“We are permitted to be an island within ourselves,” Heffelfinger said. “We are able to make decisions that are not always in the best interest of the community. The problem is epidemic.”

Was then and still is.

McCombie and Heffelfinger were speaking nearly five years ago, but they could have been discussing current issues across the Cambria-Somerset region.

We frequently applaud volunteer fire departments and their members on this page.

Indeed, these individuals give of their time to train and then put themselves at risk to protect their neighbors and their neighbors’ property.

But we also find ourselves frequently urging local organizations to join together – or at least work together – to reduce costs and enhance efficiency.

That goes for fire companies, police departments, schools districts and even municipal governments.

It seems we are willing to work together – right up to the moment when we feel our own identity is threatened.

That is an emotional response we must learn to put aside.

Central City was working with Shade, but wanted more money. Windber, Stoystown and Hooversville fire companies also respond to calls in Shade Township.

Is there an opportunity for greater regional cooperation here? Certainly.

We applaud the decision by the Shade supervisors, especially if the alternative was to create yet another small fire department.

And we find it ironic that Shade went outside its own immediate area to contract with a company in Richland that has embraced regionalization.

But most of all, we look forward to a day when parochialism truly gives way to openmindedness – when protecting your own turf isn’t more important than protecting the people of your community.