Tredyffrin Supervisors Approve $1.8M Purchase Of Boy Scouts Property

TREDYFFRIN, PA —Tredyffrin Township supervisors unanimously approved an $1.8 million purchase of a 6.3-acre property for the Berwyn Fire Company.

The property at 1485 Valley Forge Road is owned by the Cradle of Liberty Council Inc. Boy Scouts of America.

The fire company plans to start using the new location within the next several months.

The new substation will replace a temporary substation near the Gateway Shopping Center to provide faster service to Chesterbrook, Glenhardie and the Swedesford Road corridor.

The agreement, approved at an Oct. 5 supervisors meeting, calls for leasing space in the building to Cradle of Liberty for one year.

The substation is part of the fire company’s $8 million project, which also includes constructing a new station to replace its 93-year-old station on Bridge Avenue.

The fire company provides services to both Tredyffrin and Easttown township. Tredyffrin Township has a population of 29,461, and Easttown has a population of 10,646.

The fire company’s combined 40 volunteers, 10 full-time employees, and 28 part-time employees respond to more than 2,150 ambulance calls and 900 fire calls annually.

Tredyffrin Township’s proposed 2023 budget includes $3.14 million toward the Bridge Avenue station.

Thomas Torresson, president of the Berwyn Fire Company, said the fire company is incredibly pleased with the infrastructure upgrades.

“We couldn’t be happier with the infrastructure upgrades,” he said.

Tredyffrin is covered by Berwyn, Paoli and Radnor fire stations.

Request for more full-time firefighers

Torresson also said he asked for $784,000 from Tredyffrin and Easttown townships for an additional 10 full time employees for Berwyn.

During a preliminary budget presentation, Joseph DiRocco, assistant manager and chief financial officer, said an additional $500,000 in state funding will be allocated to Berwyn Fire Company.

Torresson said the state funding will help a great deal.

He said the state funding can be used only for fire-fighting gear for volunteers, fuel, and maintenance apparatus, not new full-time firefighters.

Torresson said he plans to provide a presentation on Oct. 17 to the Easttown board of supervisors about the funding needs.

Supervisor David Miller asked the supervisors to keep the funding for the fire companies in the forefront.

DiRocco said the funding of operational costs will be on the forefront of budget discussion next year.