Officers:

President:
Gary Zalusky
Vice President:
Ray Foster
Recording Secretary:
John Redman
Financial Secretary:
Allan Shepler
Treasurer:
Pat Fatula
Trustee:
Rich Dasch
Letcavage Steve
Renee Yoder
Kathy Adams
Roger Adams
Charles Reed

Links Section

	PA FIRE POLICE ASSOC.
	PA STATE FIRE COMMISSIONER
	SCHUYLKILL COUNTY EMA
	BERKS COUNTY FIRE POLICE
	CARBON COUNTY FIRE POLICE
	DAUPHIN COUNTY FIRE POLICE
	FLAGGING HANDBOOK
	LUZERNE COUNTY FIRE POLICE
	PFESI

NEXT MEETING
Sunday 07/08/12 @ 2:30PM
Tremont Fire Co.
Tremont, PA

The fund raiser will be held at Hoss's restaurant next to the Cressona Mall on June 1st. By presenting a ticket a portion of the procedes from the meal will be given to this cause. Please call 570-366-2473 to obtain tickets.

See you there!

ASSISTANCE NEEDED

Pine Grove Hose HH&L No. 1 will be hosting the Schuylkilll County Fireman's Convention. Please contact Rick Rager (570-345-8756) or rrager39@comcast.net. Anyone interested in participating with this parade should respond no later than 8/18/12. All Fire Police should sign in at the HH&L station no later than 11:30 AM. After parade has passed, return to HH&L station to sign out and receive a mug for the festivities and parde awards.

Norristown, PA Hello to my fellow Fire Police Associations in our wonderful state of Pennsylvania. My Name is Jim Folk, and I am a Assistant Commissioner for the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire Police Association. The Firefighters' Convention/Bicentennial Parade will be held in Montgomery County this September 29, 2012. We are asking for help for this Event, due to the high amount of people projected to show up. Fire Police are needed for the Firefighters' Convention/Bicentennial Parade. Fire Police will need to report by 0800 hours to the staging area located at the Montgomery Hose Fire Station located at 201 West Freedley Street Norristown, PA 19401.

If you have any questions please contact Fire Chief Thomas O'Donnell at 610-292-8281. A request letter will be sent out to anyone who can help.

thanks for everything!
Jim Folk
Assistant Commissioner
Montgomery County Volunteer Fire Poice Association

TRAINING - If you are going to be hosting any training that would be of interest to Fire Police please send us your information using the contact box at the bottom of this web page.

NEW ON-LINE TRAINING AVAILABLE

Responder Safety has begun a new on-line training experience for first responders who provide traffic control. They have begun by producing the first lesson based upon "Advance Warning". The training has a short test at the end and if you pass you are issued a certificate. To access this training follow the line: http://learning.respondersafety.com/ and register or just to learn more visit their web site "Responder Safety".

ARTICLES ABOUT FIRE POLICE

FIREFIGHTER DOWN: Sheriff's Deputy Strikes Firefighter With Car Saturday, May 19, 2012

It was the worst case scenario come to life for emergency responders - a firefighter directing traffic around an accident scene in the town of Theresa was struck by a car.

"We were involved in traffic control and at that time, one of my fire police on scene was actually struck by a vehicle," said Theresa Fire Chief Mark Savage. The vehicle wasn't just any vehicle. It was driven by a Jefferson County sheriff's deputy.

Police said Deputy Shaun Cuddeback struck Theresa volunteer firefighter Lance Willix - a 40 year veteran of the department. "When it's one of your own, it kind of hits home, you know what I mean? We train, we try to do all the right things and things do happen," said Savage.

Officials told Willix was airlifted to Upstate Medical Hospital in Syracuse with non-life threatening injuries. "He has some leg trauma, he has been transported and will be flown to Syracuse to the trauma unit," said Sheriff John Burns.

Police and fire officials seem to disagree on what exactly led to the patrol car hitting Willix. "There was a lot of fire apparatus around. He was stepping out to direct traffic, the deputy was coming around one of the other vehicles and I believe neither one of them saw each other," said Burns.

"At the time, I did not have any fire apparatus in the roadway. He was standing in the road way directing traffic," said Savage. In a statement overnight, sheriff's deputies said "Early indications are that obstructed views due to vehicle congestion at the accident scene may have contributed" to the deputy's vehicle striking the firefighter. Any answers to why it happened, or if charges will be lodged against the deputy, won't come for a few more days, according to Sheriff Burns.

As for the first accident, three people were taken to Samaritan Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.

Bristol, PA Fire Police Officer David Wintz Line of Duty Death May 17,2012

A sign at Bristol Fire Co., Station 51 memorializes fire police Capt. Dave Wintz, 65. Lightning from overnight storms caused a blaze at the Dow Chemical plant on State Road in Croydon on Wednesday. Officials say the strike ignited a pair of chemical storage tanks at around 3:30 a.m.. Officials at the scene said Wintz apparently suffered a fatal heart attack at home because he felt ill after directing traffic.

Officials at the scene said a fire police officer who was directing traffic apparently suffered a fatal heart attack after going home because he felt ill. He is confirmed as fire police Officer Dave Wintz, 65.

Fallen fire police captain is remembered for 50 years of service. David Wintz’s final day was spent in much the same way he spent countless other days during his 50-year career in fire service. He was helping others.

Wintz — a member of the Bristol Fire Co. — suffered a fatal heart attack shortly after rushing to the scene of a blaze at the Dow Chemical plant early Wednesday morning.

According to Deputy Chief Francis Hufnell, the 65-year-old firefighter began to feel ill so he left the scene, drove home and then went into cardiac arrest.

A second unit from the fire company responded to Wintz’s Bristol home and attempted to revive him along with an ambulance crew and personnel from the Penndel Fire Co., added Hufnell.

The efforts, though, were unsuccessful and Wintz was transported to Lower Bucks Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

“It’s tough,” Hufnell said about losing one of his own. Wintz had volunteered with the fire company for about four years.

This marks only the third in-the-line-of-duty death experienced by the Bristol Fire Co. in 157 years of existence, he added.

“Everybody’s dealing with it in their own way. It’s a shock to us. It’s not something you’d expect and something you’d hope never happens,” Hufnell said. “Dave was a good guy. He was always around when we needed him. Everyone knew him in town. He’d do all the community events and help out with borough festivals. Some of his family belonged to the fire company as well, so that just makes the loss even harder.”

Hufnell said Wintz’s wife told him they were planning a birthday party for him that would also have celebrated his 50 years of service as a firefighter.

State Rep. John Galloway, D-140, issued a statement Wednesday thanking the emergency responders who eventually extinguished the fire, and in particular Wintz.

“First, my thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the fallen firefighter, Dave Wintz,” he said. “We mourn his passing and are grateful for his service.”

By all accounts, Wintz was a calming influence around the fire station and often took on the role of mentor toward the younger members of the crew.

And he may have even saved some of their lives.

“A couple of years ago, he was on the corner after closing the street off and a drunk driver went screaming past him,” Hufnell said. “He shouted a warning so our people could get out of the way.”

“I’m not sure anyone wants to go out in any particular way except at a very old age,” Hufnell added. “But he’s been a volunteer for most of his life and he got up (for Wednesday’s fire) because he wanted to and he always came to help people out. Unfortunately he didn’t come home.”

MATAMORAS, PA. Statewide meeting of fire police returnsBy Sharon E. Siegel For the Gazette 05/11/12

Pennsylvania fire police from across the state converged at Matamoras' firehouse this spring for the state organization's bi-monthly meeting, a gathering that takes place every other month in various locations around the state. Although there is no limit as to how many times a community may host the statewide group, it has not been held locally in more than 15 years. Officials say they are pleased that their meeting schedule brought them back to Pike County this year.

"Any member of the county's organization may step up and offer to host this meeting, and we are pleased that the Pike County Fire Police Association invited us to Matamoras," said Pennsylvania Fire Police Association President John Johnston. "The offer was extended several years ago, and it came up on our calendar for this spring."

"The attendance was very pleasing," he said. "Members and guests traveled from all over the Commonwealth, and the Pike County representatives were very impressive." Delegates, alternate delegates, members and guests numbered more than 100 in the daylong official meeting. Johnson said such meetings provide an avenue for dialogue between counties within the Commonwealth and the state association, and for sharing of information on legislative concerns for the emergency services and anything which affects the safe operations of all fire police.

The order of business of the meeting included such topics as the proposed federal "Fire Police Fairness Act," which deals with a wide range of fire police issues, including new training programs and benefits for fire police who are injured or killed while on duty.

The organization also discussed the National Fire Protection Association's new guidelines on highway safety operations for all emergency services personnel.

"This is only a small view of what fire police are called upon to do for their local fire companies, their community, and their county and region," Johnston said. Johnston noted that important state and federal issues are covered at such meetings, as well as providing an opportunity for members to network between their county and local organizations.

"Overall, it was a great day in which a lot was accomplished. We thank Pike County members for hosting the meeting and for the great hospitality," Johnston said.

Area volunteers to cover gaps for fire, police departments in light of budget cuts Thursday, May 10, 2012 By Hillary Gavan beloitdailynews.com

After many Rock County Wisconsin agencies and non-profits suffered from budget cuts, one group of 20 volunteers decided to launch Southern Wisconsin Emergency Preparedness Team (S.W.E.P.T.) on Jan. 1.

“Whatever you need, give us a call,” said S.W.E.P.T. co-founder Dave Diestler. “We’ll be there.”

S.W.E.P.T. is an all-volunteer, non-profit, charitable organization providing assistance to local emergency service agencies including fire, police, sheriff’s departments, emergency management, 911 center or other agencies requesting assistance.

S.W.E.P.T. provides 24/7 rapid emergency response services supporting first responders during an emergency, disaster or time of need. This includes services such as providing canteens, rehab, search and rescue, animal care, traffic control, debris removal, fire and police safety education and various other activities.

“Ninety percent of our members have all been Red Cross volunteers. We feel real strong about the program,” Diestler said. “We want to help agencies when they need extra help. It’s hard to get extra people. Where do you pull them from? We hope we are an asset to the community.”

Diestler, a former Rock County Supervisor and former director of the American Red Cross of South Central Wisconsin, has experienced budget cuts first-hand. His position at the Red Cross was eliminated when his chapter was rolled into the Madison regional chapter. He and fellow volunteer Kate Hoesly met with area police and fire departments to get the organization up and running to serve the needs of the community.

Diestler said Town of Beloit and City of Beloit police and fire have done a lot to help S.W.E.P.T. out as well as the Rock County Sheriff’s Office. The Town of Beloit Fire Department, for example, has a rehab vehicle available, which S.W.E.P.T. has used to provide hot meals during fire scenes.

“They were very open in allowing us to mold the unit, Diestler said. “It’s been a great collaboration.”

S.W.E.P.T. can do a myriad of helpful activities, Diestler said. If enough police officers aren’t available to direct traffic, for example, they can step in. Volunteers will undergo training by the Department of Transportation to perform safe traffic control.

Diestler said the group is working to get the word out, to attract volunteers and to let local fire and police departments know what it can offer.

S.W.E.P.T. can provide an array of service to support first responders during a disaster, emergency or time of need with its canteen mobile kitchen rehab, search and rescue, volunteer reception center duties, on-scene animal care, and can help at fairs, parades, community events, pancake breakfasts, National Night Out, funerals or other events.

During a disaster or emergency, First Responder agencies can contact S.W.E.P.T. by calling the 911 Center. The center then calls S.W.E.P.T.’s paging system which activates the team of volunteers to respond to the emergency.

Carlisle Fire Police Faced Many Challenges At Former Lear Corp. Plant By Naomi Creason Sentinel Reporter 05/05/12

There are the men and women fighting the fires and the people looking on as the disaster unfolds. Then you have the volunteers stuck in the middle who try to protect both the first responders and those bystanders.

Fire police consist of an all-volunteer staff who are mostly seen blocking off streets and directing traffic around crashes and fires. Sometimes they help manage intersections when traffic lights aren’t working. And then there are fires like the one at the former Lear Corp. complex Wednesday night when area fire police were put into a much more difficult situation to control.

Bob Wertz, the captain of the Carlisle Special Fire Police, was heading to bed Wednesday night when he got the fire call. Like many other fire police personnel who responded to the fire that night, he ended up staying up through the night and early morning before heading out to work Thursday – foregoing any sleep. And while the lack of rest finally caught up to him Thursday night, being tired was just a minor issue compared to the problems Wertz said he faced while trying to help contain the area around the Lear Corp. complex.

He and other fire police crews were concerned about keeping everyone safe – even if the crowds weren’t as keen on that idea. “First, we had to shut down the streets that were involved,” Wertz said. “After we got the perimeter set up, we got started with crowd control. It’s hard work because people don’t want to move back. They just want to get as close as they can. We can only advise them to move back.”

Because of the square-footage of the fire, the 25 to 30 fire police who were on the scene had their hands full with wrangling the residents not involved in the fire. “It was a big area – about several city blocks worth,” said John Bruetsch, Cumberland County Public Information Officer. “People are also pretty innovative in getting through. They had their hands full, and that’s why they had to call in more fire police.”

Wertz said they had a number of streets closed off in the area, some of which were shut down because of hose equipment used to bring in water from other areas to help battle the blaze. In those instances, Wertz said fire police tried to keep people away from potentially impeding what the firefighters were trying to do. But more than anything, fire police focus on the safety of everyone at a fire or crash.

“Getting the traffic away is for the safety of the firefighters,” he said. “They’re moving around and concentrating on the fire or injured person. It’s our job to make it easier on them. (For the crowds) we’re doing it for their own interest, and not because we’re trying to be nasty. You don’t know what’s going to happen, and (at Lear) you have these explosions. Firefighters were told not to go in. We just want to keep people at a safe distance. I didn’t want to go in there – I wanted to move back. There are hazardous materials in that smoke. You don’t want to breathe that in. There were times when I was choking on it.” Keeping people at a safe distance is usually easier in other situations, Wertz added.

“A lot of the time at house fires, we’re using police tape and taping off the area,” he said. “We used some of that, but there was so much to be done (at Lear). On a fire like that, you do the best you can with what you have.” Luckily for Wertz, he had a backup to help out with street closures and crowd control. “We had a good response,” he said. “Other fire police and traffic units besides ours showed up. We had fire police from North Middleton, Mt. Holly and even as far away as Newville. Traffic units also arrived from New Kingstown and Silver Spring. “I want to thank the fire police that came out to do the job that day,” Wertz said. “I very much appreciated the help, not only from Carlisle but also from outside the area. They were willing to help. They asked what they could do, how can they help. Everybody was very supportive.” The combined effort from crews around the county was effective in doing what they set out to do – keep people safe. “They did a good job because nobody was injured,” Bruetsch said.

1 - Ten Cones of Highway Safety

2 - Watch out behind you

If you would like to borrow these to present to your Fire Police use the contact box at the bottom of this web page to make your request.

Pennsylvania Emergency Services Laws

We have a limited supply of the book "Pennsylvania Emergency Services Laws". If you are interested in a free copy please request a copy by using the contact section at the bottom of this webpage or by visiting your local State Represenative's office.

Respondersafety.com has made some new tools available to assist in making roadway incidents safer.

Setting up temporary traffic control at a glance.
download THIS Adobe PDF file

Need a hand out for training responders how to set up temporary traffic control?
download THIS Adobe PDF file

Recruiting Phamplets

A phamplet for recruiting Fire Police has been put together. If you are a member of the Association and would like an electronic copy then just let us know by using the contact box at the bottom of this web page.

If you know of a member of your fire department, or Fire Police Organization, you would like prayers said for, or to have a get-well or sympathy card sent, let me know of your request. All requests are kept confidential, or can be lifted up during our monthly meetings. Details are not necessary - just a name and the nature of the prayer such as for healing; strength; guidance. Send your request to the "Chaplin" through the Contact box at the bottom of this page.

Thought for the Day:

The Merry Month of May brings a time to remember... Our Mothers & Grandmothers, and all those women who have lead us, cared for us, nurtured us, stood beside us, loved us. It's also the time to remember all those in the Military, past, present, & future who have fought, and died, and will die for our freedoms we now enjoy. It's a time, also, to make our own memories with our Friends & Families, as the summer season begins again. Take the time to make those memories great, have fun, enjoy, take pictures, scrapbook, write a journal, record your history, be a wonderful memory for someone else to look back at, and Remember When....