Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Fame gets boost to help fund station expansion
Fire company receives $25,000 donation from Sartomer for station expansion
Sartomer, a West Chester company, donates $25,000to fire company project.
“We thank Sartomer for their confidence in Fame and for moving us closer to our goal of $2.5 million. With the assistance of like-minded businesses and our supportive community, I feel especially confident our goal will be reached.”
— Bill Ronayne, co-chairman, Fame Fire Company capital campaign
WEST CHESTER » The borough’s Fame Fire Company received a boost in efforts to expand its existing station on Tuesday as it received a sizeable donation from a local business.
Sartomer, a branch of worldwide chemical manufacturer Arkema that operates a facility in the 600 block of South Bolmar Street, presented the all-volunteer fire company with a check for $25,000 Tuesday evening. The funds put the fire company more than half way to its $2.5 million goal in an ongoing capital campaign to raise money to pay for a expansion of the station at Rosedale Avenue and Matlack Street in the borough’s southeast end.
Bill Ronayne, the co-chair of Fame’s capital campaign, thanked Sartomer for the donation and said he was confident the fire company would reach its goal.
“Much like Sartomer, Fame is committed to providing excellent service using advanced technologies and superior training techniques. We thank Sartomer for their confidence in Fame and for moving us closer to our goal of $2.5 million,” Ronayne said. “With the assistance of likeminded businesses and our supportive community, I feel especially confident our goal will be reached.”
Fire company officials said its members currently struggle to house the company’s extensive rescue apparatus, which includes equipment dedicated to the Chester County Rescue Task Force, a tactical rescue team that is able to respond to large-scale emergencies on a regional level. Much of the equipment is currently housed outside in the station’s parking lot, officials said, a solution that is not ideal for maintaining the equipment long term.
Fame’s rescue task force is equipped to respond to a wide variety of emergencies, including water rescues, trench rescues, structural collapses, and other specialized operations. In recent years the task force’s members have rescued people from flooded roadways, icy waters, and collapsed trenches.
Fire officials hope to erect a two-story, 8,000 square foot addition to the existing station’s east end designed to provide the company’s members with more space for equipment storage and improved restroom, exercise, and sleeping accommodations. The fire company has already dedicated about $500,000 of its own savings to the project, with the remaining funds to be raised through donations from local individuals, businesses, foundations, and government funding programs.
The expansion also plans for a “live-in” program that would house four West Chester University students full time in exchange for their volunteer fire service. Fire company officials said the live-in program would increase the company’s response times overnights and on weekends
Plans for the expanded station include two new bay doors for the company’s rescue apparatus, including space for three trucks,
two boats and a trailer, a new gear storage room with 60 lockers for firefighters, work areas, gender segregated bunk rooms, and improved fitness and training facilities. The plans also include improving the station’s energy efficiency by improving heating and cooling systems and providing safety features like sprinkler systems.
In addition to its active participation in the county’s Rescue Task Force, Fame provides full time fire protection to a 27.5 square area across some of Chester County’s most populated areas, including the West Chester Borough, Thornbury, and parts of East Bradford, Westtown, Birmingham, and West Goshen.
For more information about the Fame Fire Company and the Capital Campaign achievement, please call Bill Ronayne Co-Chair 610-656-7774, email billr@ bvhvac.com or visit our website at www.FameFireCo.org.
Donations can be sent to: Fame Fire Company of West Chester , Capital Campaign, 200 E. Rosedale Ave., West Chester, PA 19382. Follow Daily Local News staff writer Michael N. Price on Twitter @MikePriceWrites and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ michaelnprice.