Lapse in insurance coverage knocks Plum fire departments out of service for hours before being restored

Plum’s four volunteer fire departments were out of service for about six hours Tuesday because of a lapse in insurance coverage.

The Holiday Park, Logans Ferry, Renton and Unity departments went out of service at 2 p.m., according to Holiday Park Chief Jim Sims and Unity Vice President Morgan McIlrath.

They said the reason they were forced out of service is that the workers compensation insurance the borough pays for had lapsed.

The four departments went back in service about 8 p.m. after the borough got another policy in place.

“We appreciate the diligence and hard work of the Plum Borough officials to get this resolved this evening,” Sims said.

McIlrath said borough manager Michael Thomas informed them of the new policy, which she said will cover them until the original policy is reenacted.

Thomas and assistant manager David Soboslay could not be reached for comment after business hours Tuesday. Council President Mike Doyle and Mayor Harry Schlegel did not respond to telephone messages.

McIlrath said firefighters could not risk responding to calls without the insurance coverage.

“If something were to happen to one of our members on a call, they would not have any sort of coverage,” she said. “That is a big liability for the well-being of our members.”

During the lapse, fire departments from other municipalities were covering the borough’s 30,000 residents over 28.5 square miles, Sims said.

During that time, Allegheny County was told to log the departments as out of service, county spokeswoman Amie Downs said.

“That means when there is a call, the dispatcher will go to the next available unit in their run cards,” she said.

Plum couldn’t cover 2 calls

Sims said there were two calls in his department’s area Tuesday — a woman who fell over a hillside on Logans Ferry Road and a crash on Old Frankstown Road — that they were not able to answer.

They were covered by other departments, including those from Lower Burrell’s Kinloch station, Monroeville and Murrysville.

“It’s very hard for my guys to be sitting in the fire station seeing other trucks go past the station and they can’t go,” Sims said before the coverage was restored. “We’re always there for the community. We’re not happy for this. We have to protect our members.”

Sims and McIlrath did not know exactly when the coverage had lapsed. They said it might have ended at the start of the year.

Sims said they also don’t know how it happened.

For residents, Sims stressed that there was coverage in place in case of an emergency while Plum’s departments were out of service.

“We have a very strong mutual aid program that was in place prior to today,” he said before coverage was restored. “There’s no lapse of services, and there’s no lapse of protection. The residents should feel at ease to the fact that someone’s coming.”