The Harmony Fire District is finally moving forward with a plan for a new fire station that will address the lack of adequate space with which the department has long contended.

This is good news and, once built, the station could serve two purposes.

First, the fire district — which serves Jackson and Lancaster townships, Harmony and Zelienople — has needed more space for its equipment and operations ever since the Harmony and Zelienople fire districts merged five years ago. Also, the new station could allow the district to maintain overnight staffing, which could attract new firefighters and make it easier to respond to its large coverage area. Attracting volunteers is a challenge for fire stations around the state at a time when recruitment is seeing all-time lows.

About 96% of the state’s firefighters are volunteers. Studies have found that over the past 50 years the number of volunteer firefighters has dropped from 300,000 to about 40,000. Since many districts cannot afford to pay staff, the result has been a lack of new volunteers, which in many cases has led to slower response times.

This week, the Harmony Fire District presented the municipalities it serves with plans for the new station, which would be located along South Main Street in Zelienople.

Among the benefits of the new site, fire district president Kevin Behun said, are that it’s centralized, it offers multiple routes to respond to emergencies and has a cheaper price tag than other proposed locations.

“It saves time responding to our highest density populated areas,” Behun said. “It’s a more centralized location for 30 of our members compared to the other places we were looking.”

The district currently does not have enough money to complete the project, but will take out a roughly $4 million loan for construction, and Jackson Township will likely allocate funding from its budget, rather than increase its fire tax. This is a win-win for residents, who will continue to benefit from the services provided by the district without paying more for them.

The department will likely break ground in the first quarter of 2022 on the station, and construction is expected to take 12 to 18 months. “We’re hoping that this time in 2023 we’re having a move-in party,” Behun said. We hope so too. Keeping the community safe is important — and we hope this larger space will improve the district’s capacity to do so.

— NCD