‘Community support’: Donations help bring new fire station to Muncy
Trending
MUNCY -- A new, centrally located Muncy Area Volunteer Fire Company station began responding to emergency calls.
"It's been a long time coming," Station 39 Chief Scott Delany said during a tour of the facility located on East Penn Street. The land and building cost $2.4 million, he said.
The fire company had a capital fund drive that began four months ago and took out a 20-year mortgage with Muncy Bank and Trust Co.
"Very supportive," Delany said of those giving in the service area, which comprises Muncy Borough, Muncy Creek Township, half of Moreland Township and a sliver of Anthony Township in Montour County.
"We cover a little over 30 square miles," he said.
Compared to prior fund drives, what came in was almost twice as much, he said.
All funds have been directly deposited and dedicated toward the cost of the building, he added.
Among the receipts include large contributions, such as a $50,000 donation from the Margaret E. Waldron Foundation and on down to the smallest but not the least in Delany's view.
The chief paused for a second and became a bit emotional about one of those smaller donations.
"This is really touching to me," he said, recalling a moment during Muncy's Fourth Friday, a celebration downtown on Main Street that allows vendors to position themselves on the street, a portion of which is closed off to traffic. Pedestrians then walk up and down to eat, shop and listen to live music.
The fire company had a booth set up and was taking donations for the new building, handing out fire literature when Delany said he noticed a young woman with two small children who "rifled through her purse and pulled out $1 in nickels."
While not a large amount, it was "all she had," Delany said.
As for the full financing of the building, "We went into this $2.4 million building thinking 'how in the world are we going to pay for it?'"
Instead, the building was halfway through construction before the company was $1.4 million in and started to draw on the 20-year mortgage, Delany said.
Muncy Bank and Trust Co. will donate $50,000 over the next five years, or $10,000 annually for the next five years, he said.
"When it is done, we are only going to have $1.2 million on the mortgage," Delany added.
Money was made available, too, through the sale of the borough's Paul Geringer Hall, the two station houses, and an older gentleman listed as "anonymous" who passed away and donated proceeds from the sale of his farm, Delany said.
"That's community support," he stated solemnly.
Service area experiencing exponential growth and traffic volume
The company's members -- about 30 active and several associate members -- serve an area considered by Lycoming County Department of Planning and Community Development to be experiencing the largest growth in the region with Interstate 180, Routes 405, 220 and other access points.
The station is the result of years of planning that began with a merger of Muncy Creek Volunteer Fire Co. in Clarkstown, a village about two miles from the new building along Route 442, and Keystone Hook & Ladder Co. on Main Street in the borough. The merger occurred in 2011.
Both fire stations operated separately until Muncy Creek Township's fire station was sold and apparatus was moved, knowing that one day there would be a modern facility that was appropriately more centrally located to where the most population and incidents were occurring.
"The ultimate goal of the merger was to reduce duplication of service, consolidate equipment and buildings and eventually be under one roof," said company Assistant Chief Dan Knapp.
Deputy Chief Kevin Rupert, who is in his 25th year, was in Florida during the tour but had previously expressed joy over the community support.
On this evening, Knapp joined other volunteers to raise both the United States' and Pennsylvania's flags. These flags will be raised and lowered along with one signifying Station 39 Muncy Area Volunteer Fire Co., which will have the Station 39 patch on it, Knapp said.
Knapp, as Delany, was grateful for chance to have a building that will better serve the needs of the community and be more attractive to prospective firefighters, most of whom join as junior members.
"This is the end product," Knapp said, before offering the full tour of the inside of the station as junior firefighters and younger men and women moved around training and testing equipment.