Fire department woes hot topic at Middlesex meeting
MIDDLESEX TWP -- Residents and former fire company members asked questions at a supervisors meeting Wednesday about the future of the township’s volunteer fire company.
Middlesex Township Volunteer Fire Company has experienced labor shortages in the past year and has seen a series of more than a half-dozen resignations during the last several months, with causes ranging from conflicts between members to reflections of the larger staffing crisis within fire companies.
Former fire company member Denis Bishop, who now works at the Adams Area Fire District, brought up concerns that the Middlesex company cannot adequately protect the township.
Bishop cited times when he had previously had to operate a firetruck on his own to emergency calls due to a lack of available staff. He suggested the township set up a formal agreement with Saxonburg or another township to have their departments cover Middlesex 24/7.
“We just need to figure that out before that balloon bursts,” Bishop said. “We need to get agreements in place and things going on so that we are not an unprotected township.”
Former member Melissa Bitzer questioned the logic of maintaining the fire company instead of contracting with another township’s fire company. She cited a toxic environment at the fire station as having been a factor in her departure from the company.
“Adams is covering for us, so why do we have a fire company? If we don’t have enough people in the evening to cover fires, then I’m not sure what’s the purpose,” she said. “I was verbally attacked by a social member to the point where I was having anxiety attacks and did not feel welcome back into the building.”
Former fire board president Rich Bitzer also cited a hostile environment at the department.
Supervisor Mike Spreng said disbanding the fire department would be a “last resort,” but expressed concern that issues facing the company had become so severe.
“We’re willing to help as much as we can, but if there is nobody over there, I don’t know what we can help with,” Spreng said. “It is so destroyed at this point, I don’t know how you pull it back together.”
Fire company secretary Judy Sundquist invited supervisors to attend a meeting at the firehouse in August to discuss next steps. She also cited the ongoing struggles that departments across the state have endured with staff shortages.
Spreng and Supervisor Donald Marshall agreed to attend the fire company’s next meeting.
