Paid Municipal Fire Departments... (TOP)

In the 1850s and 1860s Pennsylvania's larger cities discovered that they had outgrown the volunteer system. The number of fire alarms had increased as the cities expanded; equipment which now took the form of steam fire engines was more costly to purchase and maintain. In some instances, notably Philadelphia, the nature of the volunteer fire companies had changed and rivalry between the various companies, based on neighborhood, religious, cultural and ethnic differences, was intense-often to the detriment of public safety. For these reasons Pittsburgh established a municipal paid fire department in 1870, followed by Philadelphia in 1871 and Lancaster in 1882.

With the advent of the twentieth century, and the era of motorized apparatus, more Pennsylvania cities switched to paid city departments. Some cities such as Reading have a volunteer fire department supplemented by paid drivers. For the most part, however, fire protection throughout Pennsylvania remains largely volunteer, with individuals still seeking to protect their own property as well as that of the community. Whether the fire fighters be paid or volunteer, the job is arduous and demanding, offering little personal gain other than the satisfaction of promoting the common good and the challenge of controlling the destruction of fire. (TOP)