Bridgeville VFD Donations Fading as Costs Rise

A brief discussion at May’s Bridgeville Council meeting about funding for Bridgeville Volunteer Fire Department led to a larger conversation about the department’s most important source of income: donations.

One resident admitted that she didn’t know how the fire department was funded; another said she assumed tax dollars were used for funding. Bridgeville fire Chief Bill Chilleo said he wasn’t surprised to hear this.

Many people likely don’t realize how important donations are to the department, he said, especially since in recent years, costs have skyrocketed while revenue has fallen.

“We just want to educate our residents, and our business people. We need help,” Chilleo said in an interview with Chartiers Valley Patch. “If we can alleviate the fundraising, we can better the fire service because we wouldn’t have to spend so much time raising money.”

When the VFD sent donation envelopes to Bridgeville homes in the 1970s and 1980s, about a third of the envelopes were returned, and donations totaled as much as $27,000.

“In the 1970s, that was a nice piece of money,” said VFD vice President Ken Ursitz. “Now we get less than a third of returns, and the money doesn’t go as far. Twenty dollars in 1980 is different from $20 now.”

As an example, Chilleo said, the cost to outfit a fireman 20 years ago was about $3,000. Today, it costs more than $7,000.

It currently costs about $200,000 a year to operate the fire department. Utilities at the fire station alone cost $20,000 a year.

Bridgeville Borough contributes about $42,000 per year to the fire department; however, Chilleo said, much of the funding the borough provides is not used for operating costs because it is earmarked for other required costs.

The borough is required to pay a rental fee to Pennsylvania American Water on fire hydrants in the borough, which costs around $35,000 a year. By state law, the borough pays insurance and workers compensation. The borough also pays for fuel.

Fire department members raise money or use donations for most station and equipment maintenance, outfitting firefighters and paying for training courses.

Training requirements increased significantly over the past 20 years, and many state or county-required courses that used to be free now cost as much as $150 each, Ursitz said.

Members of the all-volunteer department are required by law to complete 174 hours of training before they are allowed to work in the fire department. Another 16 hours of firefighter survival training, a Firefighter 1 certification, and 16 hours of structural burn training also are required.

In addition, ongoing training—a minimum of 10 hours per member, per month—in those areas and others is required.

The number of calls has increased as well—from about 60 calls per year in the 1970s to more than 200 calls per year in recent years—and the number of active responding firefighters has decreased during that time from more than 100 to about 25. Bridgeville VFD’s response time is between three and five minutes.

To make up for the gap in donations and other funding, the department has to get creative to raise the money.

The VFD holds bingo every Monday at the fire hall on Commercial Avenue. It holds fish frys during Lent, and rents the fire hall for events. All events are run by members, who also perform maintenance work at the station in addition to the time they spend on duty.

“It’s tough to meet that when you’re doing everything else and having a family,” Chilleo said. “Anymore, it takes two people in a household working to survive. It’s all starting to come to a head, especially over these past few years.”

Chilleo said the VFD members take pride in their work, and in the community they serve. Donations, he said, are becoming more and more necessary to keep up in an economy that, although recovering, is still tough.

More information about the fire department and how to donate is available on the Bridgeville Volunteer Fire Department website.