Fire, ambulance operations under review
Resident feedback expected to start soon
The Amity Township supervisors held a special meeting Wednesday night, Nov. 3, to review recommended changes to how fire and emergency services operate in the township.
Those recommendations were provided by VFIW Education, Training and Consulting, of York, following an investigation of the township’s fire and EMS procedures.
The study took place from November 2020 to March 2021 and was commissioned by supervisors.
Its findings are summarized in a 96-page report, which supervisors said will be posted on the township website.
Amity is served by two private fire companies, Amity and Monocacy.
The Amity Fire Company also
serves the southern half of Douglass Township, and both have mutual aid agreements with neighboring areas.
Emergency medical services are provided by Western Berks Ambulance.
Both fire companies received $124,000 in fire tax revenue from the township this year. The township’s fire tax is 0.55 mills, or $55 for a property assessed at $100,000.
Most of the recommendations focused on developing procedural norms and standards of coverage between the two departments.
“To really make progress, the two companies have to get together and jointly establish how long it will take to get an apparatus and X number of qualified members to the scene of an incident,” said Bill Jenaway, VFIS project manager. “If you can find a way to improve or sustain that, and there are no complaints and nothing burning down, you’re successful.”
Jenaway suggested having representatives from the township’s fire and EMS departments hold joint meetings to begin setting standards for uniform service.
Amity Fire Chief Michael Zomolsky agreed with the idea of a steering committee with members from both departments but noted that enacting some recommendations could be a challenge due to a lack of staff and funding.
Monocacy Chief Keith Gable said his company has already begun implementing some recommendations, but also suffers from staffing issues.
Supervisor Terry Jones noted that township employees who also serve as firefighters are authorized to leave work to answer fire and emergency calls.
Jones also stressed that the recommendations are guidelines, not mandates, and as independent companies, both have the freedom to choose which suggestions to act on.
The meeting ended with supervisors agreeing to form a committee of representatives from both fire departments, Western Berks and the public. Their first meeting will likely occur in February, supervisors said.