11-02-2022 4:49am

Boyertown Area Fire and Rescue Seal a Deal

Members of Boyertown Area Fire and Rescue commemorate their purchase of a new pumper truck.

For the next 24 months, the Boyertown Area Fire and Rescue (BAF&R) will be collecting donations and holding fundraisers to pay off $400,000, the balance owed to finalize purchase of a $900,000 Pierce Enforcer Pumper truck.

On Oct. 17, 2022, Jake Bachman, account manager from Glick Fire Equipment, met with the BAF&R Truck Committee, President Roger Lehmann, Vice President Mark Malizzi, Fire Chief Greg Deiterich, and Fire Commissioner G. Jeffrey Bealer to sign the contract.

The new truck to will be custom-built in Wisconsin over the next 27 months and replace a 20-year-old engine that was obtained from Liberty Fire Company in the merger of three area fire companies in 2014.

“The new truck was designed specifically for our service area,” notes Bealer. “It will be equipped with Compressed Air Foam system (CAF), which has worked for BAF&R at many fires. The benefit of foam causes less damage to the home and helps with keeping the fire from reigniting,” he adds.

BAF&R needs the community’s help to meet their hefty payment, and will be holding fundraisers toward that end. In the planning stages currently is a Valentine’s Dance to be held at the Friendship Hook and Ladder Company. Details will be available on the BAF&R’s Facebook page closer to the event.

Commissioner Bealer offers his thanks to the organization’s founding companies, saying, “We would like to thank our legacy companies for all that they do for us financially as well as providing space for us to meet, and food at times. We have a great relationship with all of of them--Friendship Hook & Ladder, Liberty, and Keystone Steam.”

A portion of the funds used for the down payment are from the sale of the rescue engine, originally funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It granted the company permission to sell the rescue engine and retain the funds for use towards the pumper. FEMA will retain an interest in the new pumper equal to the amount of $261,331.24.

History

The effort to merge three fire companies serving the Boyertown area came to fruition on July 1, 2014, when the the Friendship Hook & Ladder and Keystone Steam #1 com, both located in Boyertown, and the Liberty Fire Company of New Berlinville merged to form the new BAF&R.

According to Bealer, the three companies had been working together for several years to combine their firefighting operations, consolidate the volunteer force, share resources, and minimize financial obligations. Today, BAF&R serves the borough of Boyertown, along with Colebrookdale and a portion of Douglass (Berks) townships.

Bealer said merging the companies addressed a number of problems the groups faced, including a lack of volunteers. “They [the companies] were all competing for volunteers, and by combining them together, everybody gets to use the same resources,” he explains. The approximately 100-member all-volunteer fire department is funded by donations, fundraisers, and by each of the municipalities it serves.

Today, operations are conducted out of two stations under one administration; the Reading Avenue station located at North Reading Avenue and Rowell Road in Colebrookdale Township and the Warwick Street Station at South Reading Avenue and Third Street in the Borough of Boyertown. Each of the companies also has continued to operate its social quarters in support of the new department.