By Winthrop Rodgers
Contributing Writer

At lunchtime on a rainy Monday last October, shoppers in downtown Kennett Square watched as fire trucks from around the region descended on State Street. The three-story, block-long structures that make up the historic district have common attics where fire can spread easily and heavy smoke had been spotted from the roofline. Firefighters in full gear walked calmly and purposefully toward apparent danger.

“If a fire gets in, it doesn’t take that long to go from one end to the other,” Longwood Fire Chief A.J. McCarthy told the Chester County Press in an interview back at the firehouse.

Fortunately, the fire on State Street that day was only a minor incident. Some food packaging had gotten too close to the grill at a restaurant and began to smolder, causing the smoke to go up a vent to the roof. In the end, there was no damage or injuries, but highlighted the ever-present need for a robust fire service.

“Everybody that's involved in the fire department, their main goal is the customer service of protecting the community,” McCarthy said. “It is making sure that when you call, you get the appropriate help in the appropriate amount of time — every time.”

The fire services in Chester County deliver on this promise, but they face a growing range of challenges. They must fund, staff, and equip a blended volunteer-career force with the tools they need to keep people safe, while responding to the needs of a growing and changing community.

They are also dealing with an increase in the number of calls for services. The three fire stations involved in the Kennett Fire and EMS Regional Commission (KFERC), Longwood, Kennett, and Po-Mar-Lin, responded to 4,494 combined fire and EMS calls in 2017.

In 2024, they responded to 5,014 incidents, a 11.57 increase in just a few years.

Nearby fire departments like West Grove and Avondale are seeing the same dynamics.

Avondale Fire Chief Guy Swift attributed the increase largely to population growth in the area, although other factors are in play including the presence of medical facilities and senior living facilities.

The pressure of having to respond to more calls exacerbates more fundamental issues.

All of the local fire departments operate as non-profit organizations, rather than government-owned entities. While all of them receive significant amounts of public money from the municipalities that they serve, they must search for additional funding from grants in order to ensure they have the resources to work effectively. This balance can be tricky.

Swift said that Avondale Fire Department is on a strong financial footing and works well with the municipalities that fund it, including Avondale Borough, New Garden Township, and several other nearby communities.

“But it's taxpayer money. You have to be able to justify your spending because [municipal leaders] have to be able to justify giving you the money and the increases you may be asking for,” he said.

“We apply for every grant possible,” he continued. “If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you go and ask somebody and say, I need help with this project and I need X amount of dollars, they could tell you no. But they could also say, ‘here’s a check.’’’

Over at Longwood, McCarthy estimated that about half of the money coming into the company comes from grants, fundraising, and a few insurance reimbursements, while the remainder is from local municipalities.

“I can say that we're fortunate because we have dedicated municipal officials that work with us on a monthly basis,” he said. But funding remains a persistent challenge.

A major driver of cost increases for fire departments in Chester County and across the country is equipment, with the prices of vehicles and other specialized tools mounting in recent years.

“When we first bought our old home fire truck, back in the mid-80s, I remember it was about $83,000,” Swift said. “A Class A pumper right now is $1.1 million to $1.2 million. A new ambulance is going for probably $425,000.”

The growing cost of fire apparatus is caused by a range of factors. This includes the price of materials like aluminum and components like computer chips, tariffs on those goods, inflation, and recent federal government regulations related to engine design. Increased demand for equipment from around the country and supply delays are also driving up prices.

More insidiously, there is also concern about the consolidation of the fire apparatus, ambulance, and emergency services industry with just a few companies dominating the market. Cities like La Crosse, Wisconsin and Augusta, Maine have sued major manufacturers, including Oshkosh, REV Group, and Rosenbauer America, accusing them of price fixing. The issue has even started to attract attention from Congress.

Even once a truck is ordered, it can take several years for it to arrive. Individual fire companies must make do in the meantime.

“You just gotta wait,” Swift explained. “You put your order in and you have three years to try to raise the money. You have to plan a little bit more with your apparatus replacement.”

Despite these challenges, the fire chiefs felt like they were well-equipped to respond to the emergencies that they face.

“We've always tried to make sure that we had up-to-date equipment, that it was in good working order, that it met current needs,” McCarthy said. He added that he and his staff have put in a lot of work into finding ways to ensure that municipal officials understand the reasoning behind proposed capital and equipment purchases, and that the fire companies are doing what they can to keep cost increases in check.

For example, all the firehouses now buy their personal protective equipment from the same manufacturer, which helps with compatibility, but also results in discounts from bulk purchases.

The local fire companies are also dealing with fundamental changes to staffing. Historically, they have worked on an all-volunteer model, where members of the community pitch in their time on shifts at the fire station.

Dylan Blackburn is a 23-year-old volunteer at Longwood, who joined four years ago. He was inspired to join by his father, who was an assistant chief at the company.

When not on duty at the firehouse, Blackburn works as at a marketing services company. But on call, he usually sits in the front seat of his truck coordinating with all parts of the team to ensure they have the information they need to respond to the situation at hand.

“We love to help people. We love to help our community,” Blackburn said. “The people that you're going to meet here [at the station], they share that same willingness to help and drop everything and it's just a great community.”

Yet an all-volunteer arrangement is increasingly untenable in Chester County amid social and economic changes. In the mid-2010s, local fire departments began to rely on more career firefighters and EMS technicians to fill gaps in their 24/7 operations. This change added staffing costs to the departments’ ledger that were not present when it was purely a volunteer force.

“Getting people to come volunteer their time is not easy today,” Blackburn said. “They have families to feed and families to spend time with. When you're working more and you're going to kids’ games and that kind of stuff, it just it eats away at your time in the firehouse.”

Swift estimates that about 60 percent of firefighters at Avondale are volunteers, while 40 percent are career. The EMS side is almost all career technicians.

Despite the presence of more paid firefighters on the force, the connection that the volunteers have with the community remains an important hallmark of local firehouses and its non-emergency activities.

In October, the Po-Mar-Lin Fire Department hosted an open house at the fire station. Turnout was good with lots of families stopping by, despite competition with a Philadelphia Eagles game on TV. The adults chatted with station staff and children took turns climbing in and out the trucks.

A few weeks later, Avondale raised $9,500 by hosting a barbecue and shredding event at the firehouse. The homemade mushroom salad and the firehouse’s specialty chicken were highlights.

Not only are these events good opportunities for the firefighters to get to know their neighbors, who might need their help someday, but it is also an opportunity to pitch volunteering opportunities.

“There’s not really a feeling quite like serving your community,” Blackburn said. “I would just recommend that young people get involved and try it out.”