11/15/2025
A new state study recommends consolidating several Lebanon County fire departments because none are staffed or equipped to handle a building fire alone and all rely heavily on mutual aid. The report cites understaffing, redundant equipment, financial strain, and a coverage gap between northern and southern companies. It suggests forming operational commissions or full mergers, upgrading or relocating stations, creating fair municipal cost-sharing, and expanding volunteer incentives. The study highlights growing pressure on volunteer services and leaves the final decision to local municipalities and fire companies.
Consolidations and mergers have become a real path to survivability for both volunteer and even some career departments. In areas with extreme overlapping resources and little interdepartmental coordination, consolidation or merger models can reduce redundancy, strengthen staffing, and improve overall service delivery. When done correctly, they turn scattered efforts into a unified system that is better equipped, better trained, and better positioned to meet the needs of the community. Sometimes ego has prevented this from happening in the past. But with the modern challenges facing the fire service, it is time to put ego on the back burner and put service over self.
