Palmyra Borough Council hears report on struggling volunteer fire department

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.

The Palmyra Fire Department is struggling to find volunteers between the two municipalities it serves — North Londonderry Township and Palmyra Borough — according to a report given on July 8 to Palmyra Borough Council.

Borough manager Roger Powl said this pattern can be found in many volunteer departments.

“Virtually every volunteer fire department, or volunteer organization, is suffering from lack of people willing to serve,” he said after the meeting. “When there are no new volunteers coming into the organization, the burden increases on the few who remain, which leads quickly to burnout.”

In Tuesday’s discussion, officials said they might consider first hiring a full-time chief to handle the administrative side, before eventually transitioning to a partially or fully paid staff. Powl said there is no timeline for when either of these steps could happen.

“Chief [David] Dugan has been warning us for years that he is not sure how much longer they can continue to operate as a 100% volunteer agency,” he said. “I think there is finally a realization from the elected officials that they need to start doing something. What that something is remains to be determined.”

Council president Beth Shearer said the average dispatch en route is 2 minutes and 42 seconds, with the first engine arriving at an average of 7 minutes and 15 seconds. She said this is “not bad” for a struggling all-volunteer company.

North Londonderry Township’s population is about 9,000, and Palmyra Borough’s population is about 7,800. The state Borough Code and Second Class Township Code both require municipalities to provide fire protection for their residents.

“That’s a lot of people that they’ve got to cover,” Shearer said.

Powl said preliminary budget estimates for a fully paid fire department would be around $3.5 million to $4.5 million, split evenly between the two municipalities. He said there would still need to be a volunteer component, though, because of how the state distributes money.

Powl said he’s looking to schedule meetings with people in Manheim Township who went through a similar process years ago to ask questions and get guidance.

Palmyra Borough Council will meet next at 325 S. Railroad St. on July 22 at 7 p.m. Meetings are also streamed on the Palmyra Borough, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania YouTube page.