CLEARFIELD – The four volunteer fire companies serving Clearfield Borough are actively investigating merging their organizations completely into one corporate structure.
“There are many advantages to the fire companies fully pooling their resources and personnel so that we can focus our energies more effectively on public safety,” said Ed Heberling, President of the Clearfield Fire Department, Inc., which is made up of the separate companies that serve the borough: Third Ward Hose Company, Second Ward Fire Company, Elk Hose Company, and Clearfield Fire Company No. 1.
“We all work together very well as members of the Clearfield Fire Department and many of us feel a merger could strengthen our finances and help shore up our manpower well into the future,” said Heberling.
An informational meeting advertised and open to all members of the fire companies was held on Saturday at the Clearfield Grange Building. Legal counsel for the Clearfield Fire Department outlined the steps necessary to legally merge and the pros and cons of a merger to about 50 members of the four companies.
“The Clearfield fire companies have been very forward thinking in the interest of doing what is best for the community,” said Steve Wirth, attorney from Page, Wolfberg & Wirth, LLC a Mechanicsburg-based law firm that specializes in representing emergency service organizations. “Years ago these companies got together to share resources and coordinate major purchases by establishing the Clearfield Fire Department as a separate non-profit corporation. It is not a difficult process to completely merge the individual fire companies into that already existing corporation,” said Wirth, who is also an active volunteer firefighter.
In addition to the simple benefit of cutting down on the number of meetings that volunteers would have to attend, Heberling commented on numerous other advantages to a merger.
“A merger will make the organizational structure more efficient, will likely reduce costs of operation overall, and provide added clout for obtaining grants and other funding,” he said. “As one single entity, we can better focus too on recruitment and retention and potentially providing length of service awards for our dedicated members who give so much of their time so that we can attract new and qualified firefighters into our ranks,” Heberling noted.
Clearfield, like many communities across Pennsylvania, has seen a significant reduction in the number of active, trained, volunteer firefighters. A Legislative Budget and Finance Committee Report from 2005 noted that Pennsylvania’s nearly 2,400 fire companies – more fire companies than any other state – have seen a 76 percent decrease in membership since 1976. Reasons cited for the decline include stringent training requirement for volunteers, ever increasing hours devoted to fund raising and non-firefighting activities, and the longer distances people must travel to their jobs.
The Pennsylvania Senate Resolution 60 Commission reported in November 2004 that, “If we lose our volunteer fire companies and volunteer firefighters, the added taxpayer cost for firefighter salaries and benefits alone is estimated at a conservative $6 billion annually.”
This recent interest in merging the fire companies is consistent with these recent state reports as well as the recommendations of a “Peer to Peer Assessment Report” completed for Clearfield Borough by a consultant for the Pennsylvania Department of Economic and Community Development in 2002.
“We want to reduce the bureaucracy and work closely with our elected officials in the Borough to retain our identity as the Clearfield Fire Department, save money, and provide the most effective and efficient service for our community,” Heberling said.