Bensalem Twp Suspends Fire Co. operations.

[SouthPhillyTillyman]

Magoo, you done it again

[oldmanfire]

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news%2Flocal&id=8731747

[Gavin62]

Told you that fire boat was a bad idea lol...

[BucksOldGuy]

Told you that fire boat was a bad idea lol...


Especially when you buy it with a UNITED STATES federal grant......and spend the money with a company in CANADA!!!  I don't know about anyone else, but I would have liked to see that money put back into our AMERICAN economy.   

Sorry guys, just my PATRIOTIC opinion.

[Gavin62]

According to media reports at 10pm, the fire company will not open again until the fire boat is decommissioned and new leaders are put in place.

[dude]

how can a twp suspend a fire co. right to respond??? i rather have a slow response then none at all if there not getting out then just add another co. on the initial dispatch, thats not to hard to figure out. As for the boat as long as there on the river and there arent any other fire boats in the area why get ride of it, its just another tool in the tool box. this smells like it has politics all over it, does bensalem have a big head are they bullying all the vol. co. from an outsider looking into the twp. thats what it looks like. Also can there be two people with the same name on hear cause im the dude but there is another dude posting with the same "dude" name anyone know??

[Smoke Diver]

It said in earlier posts on this topic that a new chief was hand picked. What happened there? Does 37's have a large area of water in their local? Im not from the area so i dont know where they are. Is this what top of the line rescue boats go for these days?

[Gavin62]

37's local is a long, narrow area bordered by the Delaware River, Neshaminy Creek, Poquessing Creek, and a railroad line. I'd say the swath is about 3.5 miles long and about .5 to 1 mile wide. Poquessing Creek is not an incidental waterway, as it is only a few feet wide and a foot or two deep. The Neshaminy Creek is more problematic, as it tends to flood frequently. The Delaware River in this area does not tend to cause many issues with flooding. I've been monitoring Bucks fire communications for some 20 years, and I can only recall a handful of times where 37's had a marine incident on the Delaware. They typically are M/A into other areas for marine rescues, and many of them are in low-lying areas on land that flood, not on the river. They already had 2 small boats on trailers, so why do they need a permanently berthed large fire boat? I've never recalled an incident where anyone in Bucks would have benefited from having a boat flowing water. Sorry, but there really is no reason for this boat, period. It's not a tool in this case. Philly has a fire boat, if needed, and they are right next door. It was wasteful spending. I can understand having some equipment for regional responses if nobody else has said equipment. Having a decon trailer is a good example of that. But the boat was just a waste. It's not needed. I'm not sure how long it was in service, but I never heard a peep from it during any calls. Sorry, just my 2 cents...

[The Shadow]

how can a twp suspend a fire co. right to respond???

Because 98% of the municipalities contract with VFD's for their services. Think IE you hire a contractor to build a deck onto your house. Same thing- Municipalties "hire" VFD's (which are separately incorporated organizations from the municipality) for fire protection. If you are unhappy with the contractor because he is not building your deck correctly, you fire him. If the VFD is not providing adequate service to the Township, they have the right to seek their fire protection from elsewhere.

[Firemantom]

slow response. why doesnt the township( who supports them through your TAX DOLLARS) just merge them with the firehouse up the street approx 1 mile or so. Makes better vollie sense to me. Come one two ladders and three engines and 1 Heavy Rescue, within a mile or so of each other. Who kiddin who. Damn if you get all those pieces out. Oh did i forget the 5 or so chiefs cars too. The career guys are first in most of the time or Fire Station 11 from bristol. So really what do you need. A 2 firehouses that have minimum staffing during the day and bunch of trucks sitting idle or never getting out or career staffing for 24 hrs with the two pieces to cover the that end and then some.
 The boat is a joke, Here something for you wanna be boat pilots at Fire house 37. Philly and Coast Guard boats to the south and State Police and Bristol Township and Burlington City boats to the north and your boat was needed why.. to piss my tax dollars away. by the way where is your boat parked now. Stow it. dont answer. ur wasting my time and my money!

[phillyrube]

37's local is a long, narrow area bordered by the Delaware River, Neshaminy Creek, Poquessing Creek, and a railroad line. I'd say the swath is about 3.5 miles long and about .5 to 1 mile wide. Poquessing Creek is not an incidental waterway, as it is only a few feet wide and a foot or two deep. The Neshaminy Creek is more problematic, as it tends to flood frequently. The Delaware River in this area does not tend to cause many issues with flooding. I've been monitoring Bucks fire communications for some 20 years, and I can only recall a handful of times where 37's had a marine incident on the Delaware. They typically are M/A into other areas for marine rescues, and many of them are in low-lying areas on land that flood, not on the river. They already had 2 small boats on trailers, so why do they need a permanently berthed large fire boat? I've never recalled an incident where anyone in Bucks would have benefited from having a boat flowing water. Sorry, but there really is no reason for this boat, period. It's not a tool in this case. Philly has a fire boat, if needed, and they are right next door. It was wasteful spending. I can understand having some equipment for regional responses if nobody else has said equipment. Having a decon trailer is a good example of that. But the boat was just a waste. It's not needed. I'm not sure how long it was in service, but I never heard a peep from it during any calls. Sorry, just my 2 cents...

No dog in the fight, but isn't this the same as the suburban companies buying whatever equipment they want, rather than buying something that will complement their response and mitigation efforts?  Does it make sense for 2 townships to each have a ladder device, while the borough in the center also has one?  The same with heavy squads?   Obviously the department in question felt a need to provide a marine response service, and using available funding, did so.  It's not like the department goes out on the river fishing and water skiing with the thing.   

[boston_rake]

No dog in the fight, but isn't this the same as the suburban companies buying whatever equipment they want, rather than buying something that will complement their response and mitigation efforts?  Does it make sense for 2 townships to each have a ladder device, while the borough in the center also has one?  The same with heavy squads?   Obviously the department in question felt a need to provide a marine response service, and using available funding, did so.  It's not like the department goes out on the river fishing and water skiing with the thing.   

I'm confused... are you making the point that ALL of these examples are wrong, or that it's ok for Union to buy a $750,000 boat because they want it and since other volunteer fire companies can buy unnecessary equipment they want, it's ok?

THINGS NEED TO CHANGE. ALL of the examples you give are WRONG. There's limited funding and limited manpower. ALL expenditures must be viewed in how they serve the needs of the area that is served. The fire service needs to be smarter - a LOT smarter.

Money needs to be spent with the idea of delivering a well-trained, capable firefighting force to the fire as quickly as possible on equipment that can do the job that needs to be done. The biggest need today is manpower. There's beautiful apparatus sitting in stations without the manpower to ride them. How do you put firefighters on those trucks and get them to the scene fast? How do you recruit and retain volunteers? Where does it make sense to look at career staffing?

The next greatest need is probably training. From there you can look at apparatus, stations, code enforcement, fire prevention, QRS, gear, tools, etc. and debate where the greatest needs lie.

As you're thinking about that list... if you had $750,000 available to spend on fire protection in Bensalem Township, would you spend it on a boat?

[tcorreia]

For some clarification the Boat in questioned was purchased primarily with Homeland  Security Port grant. It is a competitive process. It's primary purpose is to increase Security and surveillance on the River and associated ports. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it's the same place Wilmington, Camden and Philly got funding for their fire boats. It is my understanding that the grant was awarded based on having formal MOU's with contiguous municipalities and having Police, fire and EMS capability. If I am wrong please correct me. I am not saying they did or didn't meet the intent of the grant, but just providing some clarification of where the boat money came from and what it supposed to be used for.

[Firemantom]

I think you are right about the HSI grants. But those are majors city with the need and with career staffing to man them and most important to train on them, not some weekend warriors who might see one marine job and handful of assist the boaters runs in the life cycle of that boat..Again if people in that neighborhood want a firetruck..maybe thats all they need is one fire truck. they sure as hell are not getting them out on fire calls non the less training. I would rather have my taxes go up for career staffing them some band of yo yo clowns driving around with a wacker light forcing me off the road to go to  a bell job

[Gavin62]

Ok, even if I DID think the boat wasn't a bad idea, here's what is still wrong about it's purchase: $750,000 of the cost was supplied by Homeland Security. That I have no problem with. They say spend this much, that's how much you spend. So, why couldn't they get the $750,000 boat? Why did they waste $250,000 out of their own funds to make this thing a $1 million boat? $750,000 wasn't enough to build a boat that would float on the Delaware??? The fact remains, they wasted $250,000. Money that could have been used to recruit more members or even pay for a career guy or two.