At the January 12, 2022, Newtown Board of Supervisors (BOS) public meeting, Fire Chief Glenn Forsyth spoke about the reason why he is seeking approval to submit the third application to FEMA for a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant.
Chief Forsyth explained why the grant is important to Newtown. According to Forsyth, the Township is "struggling" to meet the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) timeframe standards for getting crews to fire locations. NFPA says first fire truck from a paid department should arrive within 4 minutes to a fire scene, volunteers within 9 minutes.
Supervisor John Mack asked him why he thought the 3rd time would be the charm. His response was very enlightening.
In the end, the BOS approved the application unanimously.
In a 2018 Fire Study [LINK: http://bit.ly/2018firestudy] commissioned by Newtown Township, it was determined that the average on scene times for the volunteer Newtown Fire Association are in the 9:05 minute to 10:30 minute timeframe. This was during the period of 2016-2018.
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