Harrisville VFC marks 75 years
HARRISVILLE — “The Fighting 34th” turns 75 this year.
That's the nickname for the Harrisville Volunteer Fire Company.
“We're station 34 in Butler County, and we just came up with that,” said Chief Steve Bickel.
Founded in 1938, the company will mark its 75th year with an open house July 4 to show off its equipment and fire hall at 313 E. Mercer St., said Tasha Long, a member of the department and chairman of the anniversary committee.
The department is responsible for protecting Harrisville borough and Mercer Township.
It does so with a 22-member crew of firefighters, including seven women, and four vehicles: a tanker, a fire engine, a brush truck and its newest addition, a fire/rescue vehicle purchased in 2011.
“We do a lot of mutual aid and medical calls,” said Bickel. “We average about 300 calls a year, that includes everything.”
Long said the 10,000-square-foot fire hall was built in 2000. In addition to storing equipment and vehicles, Long said, “It has a community room for events: receptions, birthday parties and meetings.”
“We did a lot of the indoor wiring, plumbing and heating. We did all that ourselves. We spent a lot of hours here, but it was a project everybody wanted to see happen, so we just made it happen,” said Bickel.
“We borrowed the money to pay for the hall and then had fundraisers to pay it back,” he said. The building's $400,000 mortgage is paid off, according to the chief.
Bickel said the next project on the agenda is an exhaust system to vent truck fumes from the hall. He said the company hopes to have the $25,000 project finished by the end of the year.
The new building replaced the old hall that was at the corner of Routes 8 and 58 where the present Sheetz convenience store is located.
Before that, the hall was on Main Street, but no one, including 90-year-old Harold Uber who joined the company in 1953, can remember exactly where.
Uber, of Harrisville, said that while he officially joined in 1953, he has been answering calls with the company since 1951.
“I didn't know if I wanted to get involved, but I got involved because of all the times they called me to do that, do this or do something else,” said Uber. Although on inactive status since having a stroke in 1996, Uber is a lifetime member.
The company's roots go back to 15 initial volunteers in 1938. It was a year or two before it got its first fire truck.
Bickel estimates today a firefighter spends about 700 hours a year in department-related activities whether it's training, answering calls, equipment maintenance or fundraising.“We do training at least once a month, and we are required to have 30 hours a year. That's a state requirement. Most guys have more than that, but that's the minimum,” the chief said.Uber remembers when things weren't quite so regulated.“Well, they tell me it has changed too much and things are getting what I would call a mess,” said Uber. “You do this, you do that and you do something else. We did what we had to do, let's put it that way. We built our own trucks and stuff like that.”Still, Uber said he intends to be at the open house. The firefighters will demonstrate their training and show off their gear.Both Long and Bickel said the largest fire in recent memory was the Claypoole Garage fire on April 22, 2011.The building that burned on East Mercer Street housed the C & C Claypoole trucking company and Scott Ferguson Signs.There were no injuries, but $300,000 in property was destroyed.Bickel is confident that the department will be able to handle whatever emergencies arise in the future.“We've got a pretty good group right now, but it is hard to retain members,” he said. “Young people, they get married or they go to school and they lose interest.”
<B>WHAT: </B>Harrisonville Volunteer Fire Co. Open House<B>WHEN:</B> 1 to 3 p.m. July 4, after the July 4th Firemen's Parade<B>WHERE: </B>Fire hall at 313 E. Mercer St. Visitors will be able to look at the equipment and talk to the firefighters. Firefighters will be demonstrating their gear. Commemorative t-shirts will be available for purchase.
