|
The South Fayette Township Volunteer Firemen’s Association was chartered in May 1937, making 2007 our 70th year in operation. The original membership consisted of 170 men and an additional 200 women in the ladies auxiliary. In June of ’37 the assoc. purchased its first fire truck, a 1937 Arhens-Fox triple combination pumper and booster with hose carrier and a chemical tank. This truck was a fully equipped state of the art vehicle for the time and cost $6300.00. The truck was painted yellow with gold pin-striping which was very innovative for that time since every fire vehicle was traditionally red. The department paid for the truck by raising funds with events such as, carnivals, raffles card parties, and shooting matches. The debt was paid off in a little over a year.
The truck was stored in the basement of Fatigati’s Restaurant on Miller’s Run Road, then moved to a garage near the Jail/Township meeting hall located where Mariani’s Restaurant and parking lot is today. In the early days of the department through the 50’s, this area housed Bioni’s tavern and across the street was Pete Quartures’ store. These 2 families played a significant role in the early ire protection for the township as they received the fire calls by phone and would set off the siren to notify the fireman that they had a call. Kind of an early version of the 911 system we have today. As the township grew the need for more equipment grew also.
In 1955 the department purchased another Ahrens-Fox pumper/engine. Both this truck and the earlier 1937 are still housed in our current location at 661 Millers Run Rd. These trucks are on public display in our station and can be seen any evening of the week. In 1964 we purchased an International Brush Truck to take care of brush fires on the many farms that were in the township. These new apparatus quickly outgrew there space so the move was made to a new location.
In the 50’s the department was moved to an old silent movie theater which was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Tierpoke. Many residents had radios at that time and television was not far away so the theater was converted to a fire department. The school district also built a bus garage which was attached to the fire house. Both buildings are still in existence today and house John A. Kosky Contracting Inc. Soon even this building proved to be too small to house the fire department and the addition of a bingo hall to help raise funds was needed.
In 1967, the current building was constructed on the former site of a mountain of mine residue known as the “smelly slate dump”. The building has been added on to since then and has a large hall for 350 people, a small banquet room for 50 and 4 garages which house our current fleet of 5 trucks. We also have an additional detached garage which holds the brush truck behind the building. This building also houses our 2 newest pieces of equipment, a 1991 Pierce Dash Engine/Pumper and a 2006 Pierce Lance 105’ Ladder Truck.
The building and equipment are fully funded by the donations and fund-raising activities of our members. These activities include a weekly bingo night, raffles, dances, cash bash, poker run, and a yearly mail-in fund drive. Hall rentals for weddings and other township activities make up the bulk of our operating budget for the year. Considering that when we started in 1937 it cost the township taxpayers $50.00 to have Bridgeville or Oakdale respond to a fire, as well as a $15,000.00 savings in insurance premiums, it was easy to see why the need was there for the residents. As a reference, in today’s dollars the cost would be over $700.00 dollars a call and an annual cost of $700,000.00 based on last years volume of calls by the 4 departments in South Fayette.
This coupled with the cost of $6000.00 per person to outfit each firefighter with the protective equipment needed to fight fire, it is increasingly difficult to keep up without the donations and fund raising activities. Most of the volunteers answer up to 175 calls a year and spend 10 to 20 hours a week at the department helping to keep the equipment working and upkeep on the hall.
In one of our finest hours, we helped our neighbors and community on a very dark day for the residents of South Fayette. The day was September 17, 2004 and the event was Hurricane Ivan. At 2:21 PM, the call came out for some minor flooding in a couple of basements on South Fayette Street. It quickly turned in to a major flood with the need to evacuate hundreds of people from there homes. Most of our members spent the next 48 hours with no sleep helping our neighbors with their homes while our department and the homes of some of our members were being devastated. The following 2 weeks were spent willingly feeding nearly 100 people, 2 meals a day and helping our neighbors with the cleanup. We patrolled the area offering water and cleaning supplies as needed to the volunteers who had offered to assist the locals. The fire hall was turned into a relief center were victims could get a hot meal, food clothing and cleaning supplies to aid in their recovery. We are very proud of the way the township pulled together to help each other in our time of need and we were proud to work and aid our neighbors the way they help us with generous donations of money and time.
Today’s volunteer fire fighters take countless hours out of there week and away from there families to help to protect their neighbors and fellow residents of one of the best communities in Western Pennsylvania and we our proud serve and protect all of you.
Thank you from the members of the
South Fayette Volunteer Firemen’s Association
|
|
 |
