FISHER, Pa. (EYT) – As we continue our series on challenges facing fire companies in Clarion County, this week we lean toward Fisher.
Although Millcreek Township Volunteer Fire Department is one of the smallest fire departments in the county, Millcreek faces many of the same challenges reported by larger companies.
“We have about 12 firemen, and the biggest challenge is getting people to volunteer,” said Millcreek Chief Jackie Cooney, a native of Fisher. “The age of the 12 firemen is between 40 and 60; we’re not getting any young blood.”
Cooney was born in the large white building in Fisher that has served as a general store, post office, and her home was attached to the structure. There were 13 rooms in the building adjacent to the post office, and that is where she was raised.
“Along with the challenge of getting new members is the amount of training, and that’s an obstacle. Everyone works, and it is hard for new people to complete the required training. Rising costs of insurance are also a challenge.”
Most of the calls received at Millcreek are medical. If there is a fire call during the day, and if there are not enough people to go out, Millcreek relies on mutual aid agreements with other departments.
“There are not many fires and mainly medical calls now. We have a QRS Quick Response Service, and we work hand in hand with the Clarion Hospital. We’re dispatched at the same time they are for any medical calls in our area. You look at the time frame—it’s 20 or 25 minutes from Clarion Hospital to Fisher, let alone finding out where they are. We’re right here, and we can be there in five minutes and provide care and do anything an EMT can do. There is a lot of training required, and you also have to do continuing education credits once you have your certification to keep your EMT license. There are four of us, and we get called out all hours of the day and night.”
Cooney points to the lack of residents in the township, and it is now a bedroom community. Like many other fire companies, she points to changes and lack of industry in the area.
“There’s no industry, and there’s nothing to keep them here, and they all have to travel to go to work. We don’t have any swing shifts anymore, and there would be more people around when industries like Sealy and Owens would have shifts.”
Cooney has been fire chief for about 20 years and started with the company after she helped search for a missing child and became interested in the department.
“It was an 18-month-old baby, and the mother fell asleep when they were down at Blyson’s Point. It was hot, and they had the doors open, and the baby crawled off. The mother was waiting for her husband who was canoeing, and the baby crawled out into the ferns. We didn’t know if she went into the water, but someone heard her cry and we were able to find her.”
Millcreek Fire has changed some since she first started.
“Well, thankfully because of the grants, we’ve got better equipment. We were driving a 1954 pumper, where we now have a 2004. It’s like new because we don’t have many calls, and we’ll probably keep it forever.”
Other equipment includes a pumper, a tanker, one rescue, two brush, and two ATVs. The fire hall, established in 1974 after there was a structure fire with a death involved, consists of four bays upstairs and two downstairs.
Fundraising is also part of the work of a volunteer fire department, and Millcreek’s includes a donation request, a big gun raffle in November, and a state grant each year.
“We have great support from our community and all of the camp dwellers out there. We also have our annual Fisher homecoming as a fundraiser. A lot of people come to the homecoming, and they like the meal and seeing their old friends.”
“I have enjoyed working with the fire company, and there’s a lot of personal satisfaction in being able to help somebody.”
She even does the mowing around the fire hall.
Asked about the expression that everything in Clarion County leans toward Fisher, Jackie offers the story that when the last courthouse was being built, and the Lady of Justice was being put on the steeple, it looked like it was leading toward Fisher.
Some would even say it might have been looking for the heart of Clarion County.
Even though this series is concentrating on a few departments in Clarion County, the problems are hitting every company in Pennsylvania and the country; there are fewer and fewer volunteers for volunteer fire departments.
