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A Resolution of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania expressing the intent of Council to work in conjunction with the Chief Executive, County Manager, and Department of Emergency Services to provide technical and other assistance to the County’s volunteer fire departments’ efforts to address their staffing and budgetary challenges, when such assistance is logistically feasible and subject to applicable budgetary constraints.
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WHEREAS, in 1730, a fire started on a ship docked in Philadelphia, PA, and spread to a nearby wharf where multiple warehouses and three neighboring houses caught fire; this incident led to Benjamin Franklin’s advocacy for a community service to help extinguish fires to protect the public and property; and
WHEREAS, in 1733, Franklin wrote an article in the Pennsylvania Gazette about the need for a society or group of organized citizens to prevent and protect property from fires, and on December 7, 1736 he co-founded the Union Fire Company, the first formally organized all-volunteer fire company in the colonies ; and
WHEREAS, the tradition of volunteer firefighting has continued ever since, and while volunteer fire companies in Pennsylvania are not legally required to report the number of volunteers, reports published in late 2021 estimate that approximately 30,000 of the Commonwealth’s 36,000-38,000 firefighters are volunteers; and
WHEREAS, this number marks a profound decrease in the number of volunteer firefighters in the Commonwealth; the National Volunteer Fire Council and PA DCED estimated that there were 360,000 volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania in 1975; and
WHEREAS, in Allegheny County, volunteer firefighters protect over 910,000 people and save the county an estimated $60 million dollars a year; there are 203 volunteer fire companies in Allegheny County and the challenge of keeping these companies fully equipped and staffed, well trained, and ready to respond at a moment’s notice is one that nearly eve...
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