O'Hara Council honors fire departments, EMS in observance of Fire Prevention Week; approves ward map changes

O’Hara officials observed Fire Prevention Week by offering proclamations to several longtime public servants and adopting resolutions commending local volunteer departments at a council meeting Tuesday.

• Richard A. Fischer was honored for his 60 years of service with the Pleasant Valley Volunteer Fire Company. He joined the company in November 1962. Fischer served as a lieutenant, captain, assistant chief and chief. He also was the Pleasant Valley VFC Relief Association treasurer from 1970 to 1999.

• Fellow Pleasant Valley VFC firefighter Ed Michalowski Jr. was honored for his 50-plus years of service. He was its chief for the last 29 years. Michalowski also served as a lieutenant, captain and assistant chief. He was one of the leaders on the township’s fire funding committee who contributed specifications for numerous pieces of fire apparatus.

• Tom Fannic was recognized for his 34 years with Parkview Volunteer Fire Department/EMS. Having joined in 1988, Fannic was third, second and first lieutenant, captain, assistant chief and has been chief the past nine years. He was treasurer of the Parkview Fire Relief Association for 24 years and the department’s recording secretary for 15 years.

• Bob Fischer has been with Parkview VFD/EMS for 47 years. He was its president, trustee and chairman as well as first, second and third lieutenant, assistant chief and fire chief. He also is a certified EMT.

“We consider them our hometown heroes for their longtime service both as fire department and EMS guys,” council president Robert Smith said. Fire Prevention Week was Oct. 9-15.

Council also adopted resolutions honoring Parkview, Pleasant Valley, Aspinwall, Blawnox, Fox Chapel and Sharpsburg volunteer fire departments for their continued service to the township and surrounding communities.

“We do have a friendly relationship with them. We also have intergovernmental cooperation agreements with the fire departments,” Smith said. “We recognize them, and they all come to the meeting and it’s kind of a ceremony type of thing. In today’s society, most fire departments are shorthanded. Cooperation among the fire departments is critical.”

The proclamations and resolutions are available for viewing under the meeting’s agenda on the township’s website, ohara.pa.us.

Ward boundaries to change next year

Council approved new township ward boundaries that aim to make ward populations more equal.

O’Hara Council consists of one member from each ward and two at-large members.

The previous ward map shows the 1st Ward has 2,439 people, while the 2nd Ward has just 732.

The 3rd Ward has 1,637 residents, the 4th Ward has 1,216 and the 5th Ward has 2,087.

New maps bring the 1st Ward to about 1,875 people and the 2nd Ward to around 1,725 residents.

The 3rd Ward would have slightly more than 1,800 people while the 4th Ward would have just about 1,800 people.

The 5th Ward still would have around 2,050 residents.

Smith said the map changes do not favor any political party.

“O’Hara Township’s always been lucky in a sense that we are very apolitical, or not political at all,” Smith said. “We’ve always had good people come forward to run for council. I don’t think it really is going to affect much because of our history of good government. That wasn’t part of the process.

”The process was basically (population) numbers. Whether they were Democrat, Republican or independent didn’t play into it. It was basically to even up the number of registered voters in each ward.”

The township will submit documents to the Allegheny County Elections Division and petition the Court of Common Pleas for approval of the changes.

It would then go to the state for review with the goal of having the new maps in place by the 2023 May Primary.