For Cranberry Twp. VFC, it’s full speed ahead after busiest year ever
CRANBERRY TWP — Everything about Cranberry Township is growing every year, so it stands to reason the workload for the township’s emergency services would grow with it.
In 2023, the Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company responded to 1,021 incidents, setting an all-time record for the organization, which was founded in 1959. That number includes 85 calls the company responded to as part of the SAFER group, a mutual alliance with four nearby volunteer fire departments.
This marks a slight bump from the 970 calls the organization responded to in 2022.
Division chief Michael Hanks attributes the recent rise in calls and responses to the growing population of the township.
“Cranberry Township is still evolving. They're still getting a bigger population. There's still businesses that are headquartered here and moving into the area,” Hanks said. “So we're seeing an uptick in traffic.”
Hanks also pointed out a high number of gas line strikes in the township in 2023, which he estimates accounted for 100 calls.
Despite the record number of calls, Cranberry Township fire and emergency services chief Scott Garing said the department’s volunteer personnel — which, according to its website, numbers more than 45 — were up to the challenge and still are.
“When individuals are here staffing the station, they want to run calls. They want to go somewhere busy,” Garing said. “Running 1,021 fire-related calls is something that draws people to us, because they want to do what they've trained to do their entire lives.”
“I don't even know if there really was an adjustment,” Hanks said. “Our volunteers are still responding, just as if it was a normal year of calls. We’re still staffing the station the same way.”
The staff at the Cranberry department has a wide range of experience and training, with members ranging in age from 14 to 70. Hanks says most of them came to the volunteer fire company for similar reasons.
“I think if you put a large population into a room, you're gonna get that standard answer: ‘I want to help people,’” Hanks said. “I think that a lot of our members felt that way and still feel that way today.”
According to Garing, the record number of calls won’t have much of an effect on how the department is funded for the next year or for future years. Unlike most volunteer fire companies in the area, the Cranberry Township VFC is funded mainly through taxpayer dollars, while still being volunteer-based.
“Obviously, the increase of calls is going to increase the costs associated with running the department,” Garing said. “Just like everybody else, we feel the pressure of increased costs for everything that we're doing.”
On top of that, the department is in the middle of acquiring two new vehicles. One, a new fire engine, is expected to arrive next year. The other, a rescue truck, is estimated to cost around $1.5 million, and is not expected to arrive until 2028, at the earliest, due to backlogs in firetruck orders.
The purchase of the latter was approved at a fire company business meeting on Tuesday, and is dependent upon the approval of the township’s board of supervisors at their next meeting.
“It'll take at least 42 months to build the truck, and then probably another three months to get it in service from there,” Hanks said.
Because the department is mainly funded through taxpayer dollars, it does not rely on the type of fundraising activities other local fire departments rely on.
Aside from funding, the department's number-one concern is making sure it continually has enough crew to respond to emergencies.
“It’s one of those challenges that anyone faces in volunteerism in general,” Garing said. “We literally want people to come in and volunteer their time; and as soon as they come in the door, we're asking them to go do 100-plus hours of training. And you have to have the right person that wants to do that.”
While the firefighters and emergency personnel at Cranberry are volunteers, the department has instituted a stipend staffing program that pays $30 per shift, in an attempt to get more recruits through the door.
“When they're here, they're doing truck checks, or doing station chores, or taking care of the apparatus,” Garing said. “Since we implemented the program in 2017, our response times have dropped drastically.”
