2011 Line Officers Announced


Lou Zimmerman Jr. will hold The office of Fire Chief for 2011. Randy St. Clair was appointed to the position of Fire Captain and will also serve as Head of EMS.  Matt McConnell will hold the position of 1st Lieutenant and Bob Beige was Appointed 2nd Lieutenant.

Company Officers for 2012:

President: Glenn Goerhing
Vice President: Lou Zimmerman Sr.
Personel Secretary: April Covert
Treasurer: Wendy Shalbot
Secretary: Daniel R. Cox

Fire Destroys Condos In Connoquenessing Township

CONNOQUENESSING TOWNSHIP (KDKA) ?

Prospect House Fire

 Butler County News Tuesday, 17 March 2009 

Flames destroyed a house, just south of Prospect.

No one was home at the house on Chapel Hill Lane, off Route 528 in Connoquenessing Township. Lou Zimmerman, the Connoquenessing Fire Chief, tells Radio Butler News that the fire was out of control when the first crews arrived around 6:30. No firefighters were injured. The house is on property owned by Camp Lutherlyn and the resident told Zimmerman that there was a small electrical fire at the house last night. The cause of this morning's fire is still under investigation.

Historic truck may come home

By Tom Victoria
Eagle Staff Writer

CONNOQUENESSING ­ Pete Kaufman will never forget when he was 21 on New Year's Eve in 1957. Members of the Connoquenessing Volunteer Fire Company were celebrating the holiday at the fire hall.
A Constitution Street resident stoked the coal furnace in a neighboring home in preparation of a new family moving into the house.
A fire subsequently broke out in the vacant home.
Kaufman rode to the blaze in the department's homemade fire truck, a 1937 Chevrolet truck chassis with a makeshift body.
"We spent the rest of the night fighting the fire," he said.
Kaufman used to drive the patchwork truck hauling water to farmers when their springs ran dry.
Around 1960, the department sold the truck to a contractor intending to use it to hose down bridges.
Kaufman was glad to replace the old truck, which only carried about 500 gallons of water in its stainless steel tanks, with a new vehicle.
"Compared to today's standards, it's an antique," he said.
Kaufman didn't think he would ever see the truck again.
Earlier this year, an Ohio man, Rick Knife, bought the truck as part of a package deal.
Only wanting the other vehicle, an authentic fire truck, Knife contacted the borough to see if anyone was interested in buying the former Connoquenessing fire truck.
Fire company president Mike Kaufman, Pete Kaufman's son, said the department wants to buy the truck from Knife, but needs to raise the money.
The younger Kaufman said with skyrocketing fuel prices, he can't justify using existing funds.
"We need to manage our money," he said.
The department has $10,000 budgeted this year for diesel fuel alone.
"I can't be writing a check," Kaufman said.
To obtain the $2,500 needed to buy the truck from Knife, the department is starting fundraising efforts.
Upon buying the vehicle, which still runs, the department would periodically display it in the borough, take it to events and drive it in parades, such as the Saxonburg Fireman's Carnival.
"We want to keep it in the borough," Kaufman said.
Although operational, the truck needs to be refurbished.
Along with meeting Knife's asking price, the department needs to arrange for a flatbed truck to carry the antique vehicle from its current storage site 20 miles north of Dayton in Casstown, Ohio, back to Butler County.
Fire Chief Lou Zimmerman said Knife hasn't set a deadline for the full $2,500 price and is willing to take a down payment for the truck.
Zimmerman was surprised the truck was still in one piece and running.
"It's part of our heritage," he said. "The guys are really excited about it."
Guys like Pete Kaufman, who used the truck, and others who appreciate the department's history, agree.
"That was probably our first engine back in the day," Zimmerman said.

TRUCK FUND
The Connoquenessing Volunteer Fire Company is accepting donations to buy an antique fire truck last used in the borough in the late 1950s.
Checks should be made out to the fire company and sent to the station at: P.O. Box 242, Connoquenessing, PA 16027

VFDs feel pinch from diesel prices
 

By CAITLIN BAUER
Eagle News Intern

Fire companies are feeling pressure to stretch their fuel budgets as the price of diesel steadily rises, surpassing $5 per gallon in some areas of Butler County.
In Pennsylvania, diesel prices are nearly $2 higher than at this time last year, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Chief Lou Zimmerman of the Connoquenessing Volunteer Fire Company has noticed huge increases in fuel costs. Three of the company's six vehicles run on diesel.
"In 2003, our fuel cost for the entire year for the fleet of trucks was right around $3,800," Zimmerman said. "In the first quarter of 2008, we already surpassed that."
Diesel fuel cost $2.79 per gallon nationally in the second week of June 2007. In June 2008, the price the same week was $4.69 per gallon, according to the EIA.
Zimmerman estimates fuel costs for the six vehicle fleet will run between $10,000 and $12,000 in 2008.
He said the fire engines typically get no more than 7 miles per gallon.
"When we go to fill those up, we just cringe," he said.
The Butler Fire Department tries to keep the fuel tanks of its vehicles about three-quarters full.
"It's generally approaching the $100 range," said Chief George Ban of putting diesel in their tanks. "Fifty-gallon tanks are about the average for engines."
Diesel has historically cost less than gasoline, but diesel prices have been rising steadily since September 2004. The price increase is due to factors such as higher worldwide demand, the U.S. transition to cleaner burning low sulfur diesel fuel and state and federal taxes, according to the EIA.
At 24.4 cents per gallon, the federal excise tax on diesel is six cents higher than on gasoline. The state excise tax is the highest in the nation at 38.1 cents per gallon, with a national median of 22 cents per gallon.
Despite the cost, diesel engines are necessary in larger vehicles, said Mark Lauer, chief of the Unionville Volunteer Fire Department.
"You get better performance with diesel motors," Lauer said. "There's more power, more torque and the engines last longer."
All five vehicles operated by Unionville fire company have diesel engines and get between 4 mpg and 6 mpg.
The company also has two fire engines and three smaller vehicles. The company has no plans to buy any gasoline powered vehicles.
The company now allows firefighters to use the smaller company vehicles to travel to commitments such as training classes, Lauer said.
"Instead of using their privately owned vehicles, they can use the squad vehicles,"Lauer said. "They're all volunteers who've given their time and commitment, so the least we can do is provide the vehicles."
The Connoquenessing VFC has been using its smaller, gasoline powered vehicles more often to minimize costs, Zimmerman said.
"We tend to run the smaller vehicles as much as possible for nonfire calls," he said. "On medical calls, once we get on the scene and no longer need the siren, we shut off the truck."
On fire calls, the engines are constantly running and using fuel.
"The trucks have to run to pump water,"Ban said. "You can't have the truck shut off and still have access to the water to put the fire out."
Running the engines to pump water does not use a great deal of fuel, Zimmerman said.
"Going down the highway or up hills is going to use more fuel than pumping water," he said.
It is difficult to estimate the fuel mileage of fire trucks, Zelienople Fire Chief Rob Reeb said, adding that you normally consider how many hours the trucks are used rather than miles driven.
"The vehicles do sit around and pump more than they're driven on the roads," he said. "It's not uncommon to have a fire truck that's 20 years old with 12,000 miles on it."
The department has two fire engines, a ladder truck, a rescue truck and a squad vehicle, all with diesel engines. The command vehicle is the only one with a gasoline engine.
The fuel costs of the command vehicle are also becoming a concern, Reeb said.
"I just put $95 worth of fuel in the command vehicle and it wasn't even entirely empty," he said. "I was in shock."
To offset high fuel costs, the Connoquenessing fire company has eliminated nonessential expenses such as casual fire department hats and T-shirts for the firefighters.
"We cut back as much as we can," Zimmerman said. "We make sure we have adequate personal protection equipment and bypass the other stuff."
Fire departments will be absent from many summer parades and festivals in an effort to conserve fuel.
The Connoquenessing department will not take part in any parades this summer.
"We actually cut back on that, too," Zimmerman said. "We haven't gone to a parade in quite a while."
The Unionville fire company will be limiting its parade involvement, Lauer said.
"We're not hitting so many festivals or parades this year," he said. "If we are, we're taking the smaller vehicles instead."
The Butler Fire Department does not participate in parades.
The high cost of fuel affects the fire departments as well as the people they serve, Lauer said.
"Somebody better do something soon, he said. "Or there are going to be a lot of broke families."
Reeb remains optimistic and thinks diesel prices will eventually decrease and once again cost less than gasoline.
"Even though diesel is more expensive right now, I believe that sometime in the future, that will change,"Reeb said.