By FireRescue1 Staff
SLATINGTON, Pa. — Residents and firefighters filed into a borough council’s meeting room Monday night, demanding their fire chief’s reinstatement.
Times News reported that over three quarters of the Slatington Volunteer Fire Department showed up at the meeting to request former Fire Chief Keith Weaver be reinstated after being removed last month. Weaver, the department’s chief for 13 years, was terminated on the grounds of insubordination for taking a ladder truck outside the municipality for a firefighter’s funeral.
Deputy Chief Jason Nicholas, acting chief of the department, presented the board with a letter and petition containing 18 signatures to reinstate Weaver.
“I was in shock when I heard all this went down,” Fountain Hill Fire Department Chief Dave Boehrer said. “It’s a tradition that the department hosting the funeral doesn’t use their own truck. I just hope you can reconsider. We do it for the love of protecting and serving.”
According to Chief Weaver, the department had participated in four prior funerals and never had a problem before, according to the report.
“I don’t know why this funeral was different from the other four,” Chief Weaver said. “We’ve never jeopardized this community. I just want to be reinstated so I can be with my guys. We are a well-oiled machine.”
The board agreed to take the matter into consideration.