Preserving Public Safety in the Commonwealth

As the Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee, I have been focused on preserving critical fire and emergency management services (EMS) for our Commonwealth’s residents.

Both arms of emergency management are facing serious staffing and funding challenges. By working together at the state, county and local levels, we’re doing our best to mitigate the threat of any Pennsylvanian needing care but not receiving it in a timely fashion.

Fire services are arguably the most challenged as the Commonwealth had 300,000 volunteer firefighters in the 1970s and is now down to just 38,000. Without addressing such a dramatic decrease, fire companies are being forced to hire parttime or full-time firefighters. If all of the municipalities in Pennsylvania went to full-time paid fire companies, the price tag to taxpayers would upwards of $10 billion. As such, one of my top goals is to keep Pennsylvania’s tradition of volunteer fire services as vibrant as possible while providing communities options.

In 2017, the Senate and House unanimously voted to establish the Senate Resolution 6 Commission, comprised of the major fire and emergency medical service organizations and leaders. The Commission made 91 recommendations that were presented to the General Assembly in 2018. From the report, my colleagues in the General Assembly have worked together to implement a number of the recommendations legislatively by passing several important measures – Act 20 of 2019 allocated $250,000 to the State Fire Commissioner for hiring Recruitment and Retention specialists – Act 16 of 2019 established a Mental Wellness & Stress Management Program for our first responders – Act 106 of 2019 provided for Online Training for firefighters – Act 17 of 2020 allowed the Department of Health to provide waivers for ambulance staffing requirements – Act 26 of 2020 allocated $50 million in federal CARES funding for Fire & EMS – and Act 91 of 2020 made a multitude of changes, including enhancing the Fire Commissioner’s Office, establishing a new Fire Advisory Board, revamping of the Loan Assistance Program, Fire Relief, and Fire & EMS Grant Programs, and permitting counties and school districts to offer property tax relief to volunteer first responders.

Amongst the provisions in Act 91, the law authorized a question to be placed before the voters in the Spring 2021 primary. On May 18th, the voters overwhelmingly decided that the existing Emergency Services Loan Assistance Fund should be expanded to include municipal fire and ambulance departments with paid personnel. The fund makes 2% interest rate loans available to help fire and ambulance companies upgrade or expand fire stations or purchase emergency vehicles or equipment without increasing the Commonwealth’s debt. Passing of the referendum resulted in 40 additional fire departments becoming eligible for loans from the fund.

Act 91 also expands the use of relief funds through the Length of Service Award Program to include assistance to firefighters as well as the purchase of equipment and materials for recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters.

It also allows grant applicants to use funding for revenue loss due to COVID-19 for the 2021 and 2022 grant cycles. As so much has been impacted by the pandemic and Gov. Tom Wolf’s mitigation orders, emergency services were also barred from conducting many of their fundraisers, like pancake breakfasts, bingos, and other community events.

While a lot was done in 2020, our Committee will be building on this work by first ensuring that the new laws are implemented properly -- looking at legislation creating countywide “Public Safety Authorities” -- as well as having Pennsylvania join over 20 states in the “EMS Compact,” to provide a smoother process for Pennsylvania and out-of-state EMS personnel to carry their credentials across borders.

by Senator Pat Stefano (R-32)