ADAMS TWP — While the township supervisors Monday night approved the township’s annual $78,000 donation to the Callery Volunteer Fire Department, fire department officials say increasing expenses warrant a donation increase.

Callery fire department President Mark Plumb and Fire Chief Curt Huffman attended Monday’s supervisors meeting, where they were allotted the $78,000 donation plus more than $38,000 in state funds.

After the meeting, Plumb said that the small fire department responds to every call in Adams Township except for service calls, but it only receives half the donation from the supervisors that the Adams Area Fire District gets.

The township gives the Adams fire district about $156,000 annually, which is the amount Callery fire officials say they should receive as well.

According to its website, Adams Area Fire District has fire stations in Mars and Valencia, and responds to calls in Adams Township, Seven Fields, Valencia and Richland Township in Allegheny County. It also has mutual aid agreements with several fire departments in southern Butler County.

Callery’s website states that its fire department’s primary coverage area is a 10 square-mile area covering Callery and the northern portion of Adams Township. Callery also has mutual aid agreements with most fire departments in the southern part of the county.

Of the 319 calls Callery responded to in 2012, 210 were in the township and 34 were in Callery. The remainder of the calls were in neighboring municipalities, including 23 calls to Seven Fields and 22 to Mars.

Plumb said his expenses are rising, and his department needs a new truck that will cost $550,000, although it will only have the basic outfitting.

He said the cost to outfit one firefighter with turnout gear is $10,000 because of national safety regulations, which are mandated but not funded.

Huffman said regular training also is required, which is a significant expense for the department.

He said the Callery department holds fundraisers such as bingo, a gun bash, fish fries and a turkey raffle each year, but these activities are not enough given the department’s ever-increasing expenses.

“Unfortunately, old-fashioned funding is impossible,” Plumb said.

Huffman said the constant fundraising, coupled with mandatory training, is time-consuming for Callery’s 20 firefighters and their families.

“Firefighters put in well over 1,000 hours per year in training, fundraising and meetings,” Huffman said. “I put more hours in at the volunteer fire department than I do at my full-time job.”

Plumb said although commercial and residential growth in Adams requires more calls than before, he has trouble recruiting more firefighters because of the time requirements.

Huffman said Callery’s total 2013 budget is about $135,000. He said fire officials plan to ask the Adams supervisors within the next few weeks to increase their annual donation to the Callery department.

Adams supervisor Russ Ford said on Wednesday that the supervisors would have no comment at this time on increasing the donation to the Callery fire department.

Plumb said Callery Council only donates $1,000 per year to the fire department, but council President Dwayne Cerra said on Wednesday that the borough has its own financial woes at the moment.

“If we could fit it into our budget, we would be happy to give them more,” Cerra said.

He said council gave the fire department $7,800 in state money last month.

“We didn’t have to file for that money,” Cerra said.

He could not speak for the council regarding any possible increase in the borough’s donation to the fire department.