At last evening’s Snyder Township meeting, Bald Eagle Fire Chief Scott Illig asked supervisors to consider giving the fire department more money for the purchase of a new truck.
Currently, the township has $9,000 budgeted annually for the fire department. However, Illig is asking for an additional $10,000 each year, bringing the total to $19,000 from the general fund.
Illig said this would put the fire department right over the line of “being strapped.” He added the fire department needs to have an answer from the supervisors by next week in order to lock in the prices quoted from the bank.
“This truck is the community’s,” Illig told the supervisors. “We just house it and run it.”
Chairman of the supervisors, Charlie Diehl, told Illig during the meeting that the supervisors would discuss it and let the fire department know an answer soon. He said giving the extra money to the Bald Eagle Fire Department would be cheaper in the long run than paying another fire company outside of the township for fire protection.
In a previous Daily Herald article it was reported the Bald Eagle Fire Department began Operation Community Rescue last December, sending letters to area businesses to help raise money for the new truck.
The need for a new truck came when Pennsylvania state laws changed, requiring that all firefighters ride inside an enclosement, prohibiting anyone from riding on the back of the trucks.
The article stated the fire department needs to raise $80,000 for a deposit, so that an order can be placed. The total cost of the truck will be $400,000.
That may seem like a steep price, but fire department spokesperson Paul Morrison recently explained it’s for a truck with the minimum requirements, just to be considered a fire rescue truck. It’s nothing fancy.
Members of the fire department have been working hard since last December, putting together fundraising activities such as flower sales, ice sales and car washes. The fire department has also been applying for grants.
Illig told the Herald in a previous article that the company doesn’t want to go out and buy a truck before it has the funds.
“We don’t want to put all our money into a new truck and then have nothing left, trying to survive month to month,” he explained. “We don’t want to end up like Port Matilda.”
