Merger between two fire companies on hold
Hometown Fire Company will still receive funding. JOHN E. USALIS/TIMES NEWS
Rush Township Supervisors cut funding to Quakake Fire Company. JOHN E. USALIS/TIMES NEWS
A potential merger between a pair of fire companies in Rush Township remains on hold.
Barry Messerschmidt, fire chief and president of Hometown Fire Company, briefly spoke on the matter at Thursday’s Rush Township board of supervisors meeting.
Messerschmidt said things were “moving forward,” and that “we’re getting the equipment back into shape to use for fire calls.”
That includes what was Quakake’s tanker and pumper, he said.
After the meeting, Messerschmidt said that the merger “is waiting for the court system.”
He said that some of the members from Quakake have joined Hometown.
In October, about 50 people — among them residents and firefighters — attended a public meeting to discuss fire protection in the township at the Hometown Fire Company in Hometown.
That meeting was to review changes in fire protection to the township, and to discuss the facts about the changes, after supervisors earlier that month agreed to provide township firefighting funding only to the Hometown Volunteer Fire Company. That action cut all township funding to the Quakake Volunteer Fire Company.
Additionally, supervisors at that time agreed to remove the Quakake Volunteer Fire Company from being called out for emergencies through the Schuylkill County 911 communications system.
Messerschmidt said at that time the intention was to keep Quakake’s fire equipment and fire station open under the Hometown Fire Company.
He noted there’s no fire company in Quakake. The fire house is still there, Messerschmidt said, but it’s inactive because it’s been decertified.
If the fire companies would merge, the combined entities would receive $200,000 over 10 years, Treasurer George Gerhard said previously.
Gerhard said in the event no merger occurs, Hometown state funding would still be maintained at a rate of a minimum of $10,000 a year.
Messerschmidt said regardless of the outcome, the residents of Rush Township will continue to receive fire protection.
Hometown Fire Company previously sent a letter of intent to the Quakake Fire Company asking them to make their decision.
Nearby, members of the Brockton Fire Company and Mary D Volunteer Fire Company in Schuylkill Township are also considering combining operations.
