By Larry Alexander
Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, Pennsylvania)
Copyright 2006 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.
LANCASTER, Pa. — For nearly 50 years, Ephrata Area Rescue Service has been rescuing victims of accidents, floods and other disasters.
The question now is: Can the service rescue itself?
Ephrata’s Pioneer and Lincoln fire companies last week each sent a letter to borough council calling for the rescue service to dissolve and that its equipment and duties be taken over by the firefighters.
“The Ephrata Fire Company and Lincoln Fire Company have recently met and uniformly found that we feel the services Ephrata Area Rescue provide should be merged to be performed by Ephrata Fire Company and Lincoln Fire Company,” states Pioneer’s letter, signed by chief Donald Whitcraft and 37 other members of his company.
The Lincoln letter, similar to Ephrata’s, was signed by Chief Adrian Borry and 36 other members of his company.
The Ephrata Pioneer Fire Company letter states both companies have a “substantial supply of equipment” to cover their respective areas and feel that little, if any, additional equipment would be needed “should Ephrata Area Rescue’s equipment” be divided among them. Current members of Ephrata Rescue, the letter states, can continue their community service by applying for positions with “the fire company of their choice.”
“We’ve never been invited to any discussions about a merger,” Ephrata Rescue’s chief, Perry Kurtz, said at a rescue service meeting Monday. “In fact, it’s not a merger. This is a hostile takeover.”
Whatever the case, the letters will be discussed at today’s public safety committee meeting, which starts at 5:30 p.m. at borough hall.
Animosity among the three services dates back several years, to when the rescue service expanded its training to include firefighting.
Though Whitcraft declined to comment on the Pioneer letter, saying it spoke for itself, he maintained — as he did in the letter — that “the fire company never asked the rescue squad to become firefighters, a rapid intervention team, or any other aspect of the fire service.” Instead, the rescue service was expected to perform only auto extraction, water rescue and high-angle rescue.
The letter asserts the rescue service wants to become a third fire company by expanding its services “in their own direction.”
“It is our opinion that the borough does not need a third fire department,” the letter states.
Kurtz stressed that becoming a third fire company is not part of the rescue service’s plan.
“We want to continue operating as we’ve been operating,” Kurtz said.
Rescue service president Jay Erwin said firefighter training was necessary for the rescuers.
“To be certified in rescue requires learning the fundamentals of basic firefighting,” he said.
What sparked the letters was a recent request by Ephrata Rescue that the borough provide it with financial assistance through the Firemen’s Relief Fund. The state gets the money for the fund from a tax on fire insurance policies sold to Pennsylvania residents by out-of-state companies and divides that money among fire companies.
Ephrata gets in excess of $75,000 annually, two-thirds of which goes to Pioneer and one-third to Lincoln. The money must be used for training and equipment.
The rescue service asked for a portion of that money.
“Since 10 percent of our calls are inside the borough, we’d take 10 percent,” said rescue Capt. Rick Croft during Monday’s meeting. “Seventy-five hundred dollars would help us quite a bit.”
Unlike the fire companies, which get support from the borough in the form of paid workmen’s compensation, insurance, utilities and fuel, as well as a lump sum from the annual budget plus $25,000 per year for five years for new equipment, the rescue service gets little more than paid workmen’s compensation and utilities.
The service did request $10,000 from the borough in the 2006 budget; it got just $1,000 - a $9,000 reduction. The two fire companies each were cut back $1,000 in that budget.
One of the concerns the rescue squad has over a merger is coverage. Most of the calls for Ephrata Rescue, the only rescue unit in the county not affiliated with a fire company, are outside the borough and include numerous water rescues.
Croft noted Lincoln’s letter states, “There are many fire companies around Ephrata that can provide rescue services on their own. The fire company will not actively pursue responses outside the area.”
“We serve a lot of other municipalities,” he said. “There’s a lot of people who will be affected by us not serving with the water rescue. We serve all the municipalities that need us to do so.”
That passage also bothered Ephrata borough council president Mary Schurr.
“If there is a need and Ephrata Rescue is not there, who will fill that need?” she asked. “Will the local companies fill in? Or will they say, ‘No, we won’t go to, say, West Earl. Find someone else.’ ”
Schurr said she found it “interesting” that the fire companies are eager to merge the rescue service but not merge with each other. That, she said, might be the most cost-effective solution of all.
“With all the growth in Clay Township and other growth going on in the area, might it not be in the best interests of Ephrata to have one company and two or three stations,” she asked.