Wow Cecil, Mt lebanon, and Bethal Park fire departments were there. I can think of at least six other fire departments that were closer to that fire. Sure glad that wasn't my house!!!

Who can you think of that is closer??????

...kirwan heights...bower hill...heidelberg..glendale...

Carnegie, Rennerdale, Cuddy.

Each department has different mutual aid departments. Fairview, South Fayette (which is Cuddy), USC and Presto are all pretty close. Bethel and Mt. Lebanon were there in supporting roles later.

Supporting roles such as? I would be willing to bet those other departments probably have the same capabilities.

but they all have mutual aid agreements with each other.....but some departments don't call the closest one because of politics...it happens in ems as well....

look at the fire in carnegie a few months ago....they call departments that have to pass other departments on the way that carengie wont call because they "dont like them"...yet the fire was less than 1000 feet from one of those stations that wasnt called

Exactly what I'm talking about. This is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. You know who gets screwed in the end? The people of these borough s on their home owners insurance that's who! These "fire departments" need to remember they are there to serve the tax payers not their personal agenda.

John... Lebo didn't show up until much after the fire to help give the other guys some rest. Me... I don't get it either. Seems like they all should work closely together. Bridgeville responded to Carnegie's fire even though it was 100 feet from Scott's border.

Now that would be a good article for you to write about Mike. Who responds to where and why? Response times. How about man power responding to calls? If you wrote this article though I feel you would make quite a lot of people angry.

i agree John...it would be very interesting to see what some departments say...

Well I did do some research (fire department web sites). You mention RIT teams. Bower Hill and Glendale both are trained for that and so is Kirwan Heights. So you need to throw another reason at me why closer resources are not used. As a tax payer I first want to see the fire department(s) that my taxes pay for be there first. Then if they need more resources I want the closest possible if they have what you need. Not hating just saying.

I wanted to do some research about response distance. This information came from the fire department web sites and used google maps to the address Mike stated above.
Bridgeville- .5 miles
Fairview- 2.2 miles
South Fayette- 3.7 miles
Upper St. Clair station 1- 4.2 miles
Bethal Park Brightwood rd station- 7.0 miles
Mt. Lebanon- 4.6 miles
Presto- 2.0 miles
Cecil #3- 6.2 miles
Those were the departments sited in the above article. Now for the eye opener.
Bower Hill- 2.3 miles
Kirwan Heights- 1.3 miles
Heidelberg- 3.3 miles
Glendale- 3.6 miles
Carnegie- 4.1 miles
East Carnegie- 5.0 miles
Rennerdale- 4.8 miles
Now people know some figures to see what I am talking about.

Thanks for the numbers, John. Both of you seem to be pretty knowledgeable with fire responses, so my question is whether having four nearby departments responding would be any less effective than having 10 arrive? Seems like you can have only so many firefighters and trucks doing something at one time.

Like I said earlier Mike as a tax payer I want to see a return on my "investment". I want the departments that my taxes pay for first coming. That being said I know Bridgeville only has one fire department. After the ones I paid for are there I want to closest resources available. Wouldn't you if was your house, your property, god forbid your life? I could see calling for something far away if was not offered locally, but from what was said on here that wasn't the case. If they needed ten departments for a fire at my house I sure hope they were the ten closest.
I'm sure they didn't call for all those resources at once. I could be wrong you never know.

If they call for them all at one or rather quickly then shame on them for calling for help from departments 7 miles away when so many more were closer.

Do you think maybe of is due to the size of the other Depts. The closer ones are smaller depts if there is a call in their area they would be spread too thin to cover their own area. Then you the tax payer would really be mad! Think of the size of Mt lebo and bethel both of which are paid firefighters. That seems to be more a reality then we don't like you so we dint want you to help us. Its not high school. Just a thought.

Look at Mt lebanons web site and Bethal parks. Lebo only has 17 paid fire fighters the rest are volunteer. Bethal Park is all volunteer. You make it sound like there is multiple blazing house fires going on every night in this area "b".

John the show up for more then house fires...car accidents, false alarms, downed power lines, among other calls. I've been on the scene when they have been called to another scene. So John i speak from experience, on those guys being stretched thin. Look at the pics snow on the ground early Sunday morning= drunks and car accidents.
My point was that the other depts are smaller. How happy would you be if the hugs from those other depts are fighting a fire that a large dept had enough guys to help out with but instead your local dept guys are on another scene or are exhausted and take longer to get to your house that's on fire or a car that has rolled over with entrapment?
Remember John there doesn't have to be "multiple blazing house fires every night". It only takes one other fire or accident. Hilarious you guys are getting worked up over large depts helping out when they were there to help relieve exhausted fireman later in the day. You know it was still burning at 11am? They tore 667 down in the afternoon to prevent having to return for flareups. At least that is what they said at the scene.

the other depts really arent that much smaller tho...

I don't know much about this but I am wondering if it has more to do with which departments have some paid Fire Fighters on duty thus the ability to get there sooner? They may be further away but have the ability to get there a little quicker. Not sure just throwing it out there. Remember folks we are complaining about Volunteer Fire Stations. You can always opt for more paid Fire Fighters..bring it up at your next council meeting.

Kim. Do you realize if all these communities went to a paid fire dept taxes would thru the roof? And most local fire departments are able to get a truck out the door in 5-6 minutes?

I realize this is costly. But I also think that there are other options which include hiring paid Fire Fighters. Also, I don't think that in an emergency situation the Fire Chief has the time to ask for certains fire departements to come. I believe he most likely has the 911 call center call out available departments although I do not know how they determine who can/should respond. It looks to me that the departments that responded are all member of The South Hills Council of Governments. Perhaps that is how it is determined. To make the statement that there is some sort of politicial agenda with the Fire Depts I simply do not agree with. Another option is to go through the training and volunteer yourself.

Kim thank you that was kind my point these are volunteers that people are complaining about. The dept are smaller and still do an awesome job!

The paid Dept have men there so why wouldn't they be able to do some relief work for some fellow FF?

Kim. It is based on a pre determined run card. How do I know? I am a former volly in that area and now volly for a company in beaver county. It's all based on politics. I seen it first hand. It happens in EMS as well.

First Bridgeville is part of Char COG. Kim what sources do you use to get the information that the closer departments are "smaller"? Per the Collier Manager each fire chief creates a set of "run cards". These cards tell the dispatchers who to call for what type of emergency. So it was your fire chiefs decision to call a department seven miles away.
I for one would love to pay more taxes to get a paid fire department. Why do you ask? So if god forbid my house burns down I don't have to wait for Erie Fire department to get here!! They are a big paid department Kim why not call them in. So what it takes alittle along for them to get here but when they it will be worth it right?
Should a firefighter have to worry about how many raffle tickets he needs to sell, or how many fish sandwiches, or bingo specials? No maybe we ads taxpayers should step to the plate and pay alittle more then DEMAND a better service be provided.

Just because you are volunteer it does not give you the right to put some ones property and or life in jeopardy by making poor decisions.

Here's the Carnegie house fire story I wrote in August. As typical, I included the responding departments. I'll let you guys draw your own conclusions... http://chartiersvalley.patch.com/articles/fire-destroys-carnegie-house

Yeah mike. That was the one I was talking about. I hear it was less that 1000 feet from glendale's back door and they were not called

Interesting Mike. Another prime example of peoples lives and property being put at risk. I really think you need to write the article I mentioned to you earlier. Tax payer need to open their eyes and demand reasons why this happens.

It's something to look into. I think we all know what the situation is, but getting anyone to go on the record about it is another story.

That call was .8 miles from Glendale Fire Department!!!!

I'm sure somebody would be willing to go on the record about it. I do believe that the county call records are able to be searched though the sun shine law. I could be wrong on that though.

maybe the reason some of the closer ones were not called is they were covering for that fire department in case of another emergency comes in. I know they do cover for one another.

Call you local council and ask who is in their 2nd alarm for a house fire. They will have no clue. It is the chief/line officers on how they set up the run cards.

I can tell you first hand it is 100% what the chief of each department likes and who he likes. Dispatch has nothing to do with it. He and only he decides who comes and who does not. Every department in the CV area has more than enough resources and ability to fight these fires. If he does not like another chief or members of a department then he will not use them. These decisions are made on a personal level and not a professional level. Most of these chiefs do not even have higher education but they get to decide who lives and who dies, who's house is saved and who's is not. This is no different from the last fire in Bridgeville. The other departments in the area were not called. Carnegie was and they passed other fire departments to get there. Kirwan Hieghts has an advanced rescue team and truck, Glendale has another ladder truck, Bowerhill has three pumpers, Rennerdale has one of the biggest pumpers in the area and so on. CV has more fire departments, apparatus and crews than any other area next to the city. The fire departments are supposed to protect life and property to the best of their ability. But when you have to wait 15, 20 or 30 min for another fire department to arrive is ridiculous. 1 min can make the difference in most cases. It is time for the public to speak up. Your life or the life of your loved one depends on it. I guarantee it. It is only a matter of time.

Couldn't of said it any better. Thank you!

Couldn't of said it any better. Thank you!

UPDATE: The Red Cross now says it's helping two adults and one child from the house next door, and one adult from the apartment building. Working to get more information about the victims and how you can help them.

Thank you. If your police called for another department 7 miles away bet you would want to know why.

LOL, Wow. I was waiting on someone to post something like this as it always happens (total ignorance in our departments as I tried to convey earlier). Look up must be from Bridgeville and on the defensive. You are only digging your hole deeper. Instead of talking, referring or posting facts as have been posted today we get this. For your comments on these folks it was my interpretation as well my comments that this is not a Bridgeville only issue but an issue district wide (CV) and referring to all 8 departments. I have another question to pose to all tax payers with children in CV. Who responds to a call at one of our schools? How many departments within CV and which ones are dispatched on the first alarm, second alarm and so on? I bet you do not know the answer to that one or even considered it before. Not sure about you but I would expect all 8 fire departments within the CV district on the first alarm but they are not. The second alarm would be to outside districts.

Critical tasking for a fire in a residential dwelling requires 15 - 24 firefighters. Really, beyond the first two or three fire companies at any fire, it doesn't matter where the other departments respond from as the outcome will have already been determined by the first arriving companies and their ability to intervene. So some companies from further away showed up, stood around, and drank coffee.

All fire departments are not created equal as some have better training and experience and more members. Some fire departments work better with others. Not condoning what occurred, but it made no difference at this particular event.

The fire in Carnegie is another matter where the CLOSEST company was not called and possibly could have had an impact on the outcome.

You people bad mouthing your VOLUNTEER fire departments make me sick. And it definitely sounds like a few of you are seriously biased and might even be a Scott Group fireman. Regardless, politics do play a role in the fire service. It happens everywhere. Not just in Bridgeville, but all places. I can recall several occasions where the closest mutual aid departments weren't called to fires in yes, scott township, carnegie, east carnegie, greentree, collier. So don't go throwing stones in a glass house. What you people don't know is there is so many factors played into the decisions these fire officers make. And until you yourself come down to the firehouse, train for countless hours, run bingos, work details, community events, answer fire calls at 3 in the morning sometimes 2-3 times a day, ALL FOR FREE!! Then you have the right to question their judgement. And as far as ponying up the bucks for paid firefighters... you better open up your wallet. Most small community fire departments in this area get only a small portion of all your tax money. In Bridgeville, according to the boro manager, its about 25000. And that has to cover all their bills, utilities, training... everything. That wouldn't even pay the salary of one paid firefighter. So go ahead and bash your local volunteers. One word - Karma

I think we've gone back and forth enough. I'm going to shut down the comments and try to follow-up with a story about mutual aid.