Volunteer Montco Deputy Fire Chief Retires From Flight Medic Day Job

TRAPPE, PA — A volunteer fire company member from this central Montgomery County community might have a lot more time on his hands to devote to the fire service after it was announced that he is retiring from his day job as a helicopter paramedic.

John Bolger officially retired on Wednesday after 29 years of service with JeffSTAT Critical Care Transport, where he worked as a flight medic transporting seriously injured patients to area hospitals.

The retirement was announced on social media by the JeffSTAT team.

"His kind heartedness and compassion for all is unparalleled and will be dearly missed," the organization posted to Facebook. "Retirement is not the end of the road. It is the beginning of the open highway. We will miss working with John at JeffSTAT 4 dearly and wish him the best in the future."

JeffSTAT provides critical care transport nurses, paramedics and EMTs for emergency situations where gravely injured patients have to be flown by air to receiving hospitals in the region, according to the organization.

The transport service is owned by Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

JeffSTAT provides advanced life support, critical care ambulances and medical helicopters, and the vehicles are equipped to respond to any hospital in Southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey or Delaware, according to the company's website.

Bolger currently serves as the deputy fire chief of the volunteer Trappe Fire Company No. 1 in Montgomery County.

Patch visited the fire company and spoke with Bolger earlier this year after Trappe lost its young fire chief, Branden Sisca, who died while in the course of his day job as a Pennsylvania state police trooper.

Related: Fallen PA State Trooper Remembered By Friends, Firefighters

Sisca, 29, and fellow Trooper Martin F. Mack, III, were attempting to help a stranded motorist along a stretch of Interstate 95 in the City of Philadelphia back in March when they were struck and killed by a driver suspected of speeding and of possibly being under the influence of alcohol.

That driver, Jayana Webb, 22, of Eagleville, Montgomery County, is facing numerous criminal charges in Philadelphia in connection with the deaths of the two troopers, along with the stranded pedestrian, Reyes Rivera Oliveras, 28, of Allentown.

Webb pleaded not guilty to the charges against her during court proceedings at Philadelphia Common Pleas Court back in September.

Back in Montgomery County, the crew at the Trappe Fire Company No. 1 wished Bolger luck on his retirement as a flight paramedic, but said they were fortunate he will still be around as a volunteer firefighter in Trappe.