Fire And EMS Funding Alarm On The Table In Tredyffrin

TREDYFFRIN, PA —Tredyffrin Township supervisors discussed what needs to be done to bring the understaffed fire and EMS in Berwyn and Paoli up to national standards.

The majority of supervisors agreed that the firefighters and first responders are doing whatever is needed to ensure the safety of the residents despite being short-staffed.

Julie Gosse, chair of Tredyffrin supervisors, said despite the fact that the fire companies provide excellent services with limited resources there are gaps in the fire and EMS systems.

She said there are three priorities that need to be addressed as soon as possible.

The first priority is to provide an ambulance available 24/7, 365 days a year at each of the three stations in Tredyffrin Easttown.

“Having an ambulance present at all three stations is really important to ensure response times in the townships for emergency medical services to save lives,” she said,

The second priority is to staff four firefighters on each truck responding to fire calls.

“Filling this gap becomes more relevant as we have fewer volunteers,” she said. "We need to have a minimum of four firefighters in each truck."

The third priority, she said, is to set up a formal system with Easttown to have oversight of the services.

“We want to make sure we have the best services for our residents,” she said.

As part of the review, consultant, Dr. Robert C. Andrews, Jr., of Protection Development, Inc., San Antonio, Texas, provided reports that concluded additional full-time staff is necessary following declining volunteers.

Gosse said the township is working with Easttown and the fire department to address the issues raised in the reports.

The studies concluded there is a shortage of paid firefighters and first responders and full-time staff is necessary.

Matt Holt, vice chairman, said he is looking forward to working quickly to find the solutions. He hopes to hear more from the fire companies about what they want.

Supervisor David Miller said the decline of volunteers is a real problem that is happening everywhere, not just in Tredyffrin.

Miller said that when you call the fire company, there are always enough people to fight your fire.

However, he said, it still works because there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes to help, including other fire companies showing up.

Murph Wysocki, supervisor, said we could have paid cross-trained firefighters to work with EMS and fire.

“Firefighters and EMS want to fight fires and save lives, not crunch numbers,” Wysocki said.
Supervisor Mark Freed said that he is not hearing the same problems throughout the region.

Supervisor Mark Freed said he is not sure if the problem has been identified, noting he is not seeing the same problems like this in the region.

Berwyn Fire Chief Justin Brundage said the staffing problems have been ongoing for years in all of the local fire companies.

He said there are fewer volunteers and more responsibilities with fewer staff.