Hempfield supervisors buy land for new fire station despite response time warnings

A majority of Hempfield supervisors approved a conditional sales agreement for a new fire station in the western part of the township this week over concerns from firefighters in that area who said the location would impact their response time.

Adamsburg Volunteer Fire Department President Ken Wees said the current station is 70 years old and on a dangerous curve on Edna Road, just off Route 30.

He expressed concerns that members of the department were shut out of the decision to locate a new station about 2 1/2 miles south — farther from Route 30 and the majority of their calls.

“Not one of you reached out to discuss it with us,” he told the township supervisors Monday. “So this means now that our people would have to drive farther to get on a fire truck to drive it farther back toward the fire scene. Ridiculous.”

In a 3-2 vote, the board approved the conditional sales agreement to buy property for $375,000 from James C. Durst Jr. at the split of Arona and Harry Long roads, not far from Monkey Wrench and Eisaman roads. Supervisors Jay Anderson, Bill Bretz and Doug Weimer supported the measure.

Supervisor George Reese, who voted against it along with Supervisor Tom Logan, pleaded with the board to delay a vote on the matter for 60 days to allow more time to consider the concerns of numerous firefighters who attended Monday’s meeting.

“We have citizens, we have firemen that are concerned,” he said. “We have to take a step back. The last thing I want to hear is what I heard here tonight.”

Township officials have been searching for more than a year for an appropriate spot to build a new fire station in the western part of Hempfield.

Construction would be funded by $5 million allocated from a 2022 bond.

Last year, officials were given the OK to negotiate a potential deal with Hempfield Area School District on property near West Hempfield Elementary School along Wendel Road. Township Manager Aaron Siko said Monday the proposal fell through for a variety of reasons, including the size of the lot, an underground stormwater drainage system and potential issues with ingress and egress, especially during school drop-off and pickup times.

He said multiple properties in the western part of the township were examined. The 5.3-acre Durst property zoned for agricultural and commercial use was not for sale, but officials sought out interest from the owner because of its location.

There’s a home and a commercial greenhouse on the land that would be demolished if the sale goes through, Siko said.

“The township had no prior relationship with the seller,” he said.

Siko said it was not discussed with Adamsburg firefighters because land acquisition negotiations are considered privileged information.

“We stand by the recommendation we made as far as property is concerned,” Siko said, adding that the sales agreement comes with conditions that allow the township to continue examining the move for a period of time.

But Siko said he expects the township will close on the deal by the end of December.

Dan Thoma, assistant fire chief in the western area, provided the supervisors with statistics of the locations of fire calls and how far firefighters drive to the current Adamsburg station, compared with how far they’d travel to the new location.

“On average, it’s an entire mile increase,” he said. “On back roads … that is a several-minute increase, along with the response now back from that station to those areas” in a fire truck.

Siko said officials did analyze response times when examining the new site. He compared the change to when Fort Allen firefighters moved from their station on Route 136 to the headquarters at the township complex on Woodward Drive. That difference was between 0.7 and 0.8 of a mile.

“At the end of the day, yes it is a slight increase for some volunteers,” Siko said. “But within the overall context of the operation of the township fire service, it is a nominal change and one that better reflects the overall operational area of that station.”

The Adamsburg firefighters aren’t ungrateful, said Wees, the company president, but they disagree with the move.

“Unless you’re going to put a full-time paid fire department there, it’s in the wrong place,” he said. “Our leadership in our department in the west knows the west far better than anybody sitting at that table, far better than the manager and far better than the fire chief.”

Bretz deferred to the research of Siko and fire officials in approving the sales agreement.

“We’re also making a decision here that’s going to stand for decades to come,” he said.

Weimer acknowledged it was a difficult decision.

He and a couple of people who spoke against the land purchase exchanged heated words during the public comment portion of the meeting.

During discussion about specifics regarding the sales agreement, supervisors went behind closed doors in executive session for about 30 minutes before voting.

Reese warned the rest of the board that there may be consequences with response times as a result of moving the station.

“You’re going to spend that kind of money, you better get it right,” he said. “The firemen here obviously don’t agree with it, and that matters to me.”

One resident chastised the board for not involving firefighters in the decision.

“Do you know how long it’s going to take the volunteers to drive from their area … to get to that fire station that you’re putting down in that pasture somewhere?” Gary Harvat said. “It’s going to take them a long time.”