Warminster Fire Chief, Supervisors Face Off Over $1.8M Grant

WARMINSTER, PA — Fire Chief Mitch Shapiro addressed the Warminster Board of Supervisors on Thursday, criticizing slow township action and lack of communication around plans to implement paid daytime firefighters in Warminster.

More than a year ago, Warminster applied for and was awarded an almost $1.8 million grant from FEMA's Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants (SAFER) toward paying five career firefighters for three years of work.

Warminster's fire department is currently staffed completely by volunteers, and studies of the township have shown that the department is wanting for daytime firefighters. But plans to use the funds have still not been implemented, in part out of financial concerns around maintaining the infrastructure for pay after the grant is up.

Only two Pennsylvania fire departments were awarded a SAFER grant this year, Shapiro shared at the meeting. He's concerned that not using the funds will mean passing up a big opportunity.

“If we don’t take advantage of it and we apply again, they’re not giving it to us,” he said.

Based on meetings Shapiro had held with township officials around finances over the past year, he estimates that paying firefighters in subsequent years would raise taxes by about $35 per household.

Kenneth Hayes, who chairs the board, told Shapiro that fiscal responsibility presents a concern for supervisors.

"We have a lot of details we have to iron out, and then we will come back to you," Hayes said. “I’m hoping by the end of the year, you and I shake hands and we sit up here and sign the plan.”

When Shapiro asked for more direct communication, Hayes referenced an apparent lack of bureaucracy as part of the reason for financial instability in the past. He reminded Shapiro and the township that the town nearly filed for bankruptcy through Act 47.

"This is the way government works," Hayes said. “I know in Warminster it hasn’t been that way for a long time, which is why we’re broke."

Shapiro, who has been fire chief for 14 years, pressed the board on a lack of forward movement to implement hiring plans, and also expressed frustration over a lack of communication.

“I’m done. I can’t do this anymore," he told the board, adding, “What’s it going to take? Another Seafood America?”

Shapiro said the Warminster and Hartsville fire departments receive more calls than area departments which have paid firefighters, leading to frustration from firefighters in those departments who feel their budgets and manpower are supporting Warminster.

Hayes said he spoke to staff who run the SAFER grant and feels hopeful that the township will still be able to use all three years of the grant.

"We are committed to helping the volunteer fire companies," Hayes said.

Shapiro continuously expressed that he feels the delays say otherwise.

"Warminster needs firefighters staffing trucks ready to put out fires and save lives," a representative for the fire department wrote online, disparaging the boards' actions up to this point.

Supervisors maintained that they hope to be able to implement a plan by the end of 2021.

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