What is a Volunteer Fire Company?

In Pennsylvania, each municipality’s government is responsible for providing fire protection and emergency medical services to the citizens of the municipality. Some municipalities provide these services by hiring firefighters and emergency medical responders as employees of the municipality.   Municipalities may also choose to recognize an outside organization to provide emergency response to the community in exchange for a fee.

In most cases, municipalities in Pennsylvania turn to volunteer fire companies to provide fire protection and some form of emergency medical response. The Neshannock Township Volunteer Company is quite similar to most fire departments in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in that its firefighters do not receive a paycheck for protecting the community.

Fires, automobile accidents, hazardous materials incidents, and medical emergencies are handled in the same manner regardless of whether the responders are paid or volunteers.  Volunteer fire companies make the most efficient use of public funding as there are no salaries to pay.   Aside from the word “volunteer,” the training, the apparatus, the equipment, and the techniques are the same.

Many of our firefighters spend upwards of 20 hours per week involved in emergencies, training, and the business affairs of the fire company; all in addition to home, work, and family obligations.Our volunteers are proud of what they do and they enjoy providing service to the citizens of Neshannock Township.   Even though firefighting is not the primary career of our members, our goal remains to serve the community as professionals in every way.