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Williamsport City Bureau of Fire administration is meeting today with members of South Williamsport borough administration and the borough fire department to discuss a more permanent arrangement that may evolve into an alliance similar to what has been taking place in Old Lycoming Township for the past 22 years, city officials told members of the City Council public safety committee.
City Bureau of Fire Chief Sam Aungst told the committee Tuesday that he and city Bureau Deputy Chief Keith Lucas were planning to meet with South Williamsport Borough Manager Steven W. Cappelli after the bureau was asked to respond with South Williamsport Fire Department to all emergency and fire calls in the borough over the next 90 days.
Expected to join that meeting will be Councilman Jon Mackey, chairman of the public safety committee, who said he would have more information for the committee and council regarding the mutual aid agreement that exists and efforts to provide the coverage for the borough's citizens.
Cappelli recently told the Sun-Gazette the borough fire department is in a dire situation in terms of manpower. It has the station house on Hastings Street and the apparatus but does not have the ability to get to the emergency calls without the assistance over the next three months to be provided by the city Bureau of Fire and the mutual aid agreement in place.
The three months also allows time for the borough fire department, under Chief Tyler Dickson, to reconstitute, recruit more members and add incentives such as pay for calls and further involvement with UPMC Susquehanna Regional EMS, Cappelli said.
Dickson was authorized by borough council to receive a $1,000 per month stipend, and the borough rescinded its $80,000 in American Rescue Plan funds for the South Williamsport Fire Department, as part of the overall goal toward a more permanent solution that may evolve into the alliance, Cappelli said.