Over 60 Pa. county fire, EMS departments benefit from grants totaling $37.5M
The Office of the State Fire Commissioner issued grants to over 2,500 agencies for equipment, training, facility upgrades and other costs
Archbald Community Ambulance and Rescue Squad/Facebook
By Jessica Delfino
The Times-Tribune
LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — Scott Twp.’s Dive Rescue Specialists were among the 62 fire departments and emergency medical services across Lackawanna County to recently receive state funding.
The grants were issued by the Pennsylvania Office of the State Fire Commissioner to more than 2,500 outfits across Pennsylvania, totaling $37.5 million. The funds will support the needs of firefighters and emergency services workers with the purchase of equipment, to train firefighters, for facility upgrades and other operational costs.
Dive Rescue Specialists, based out of Meredith Hose Company in Carbondale, participated in 45 responses to water-related incidents in 2024, some involving emergency rescues.
“Many of our dives are quite dangerous,” said William White, vice president of the dive team, describing rescues in murky waters. “Northeastern PA doesn’t have a lot of clear lakes. Visibility is very poor. The rivers are really pretty dangerous, with the current, with the underwater things that you could get caught on, logs, fences, different things.”
The period following heavy rainstorms is often problematic, specifically around fast-moving rivers, like the Susquehanna, and during freezing temperatures.
“Not only are they (rescue divers) working on ropes, but they’re fighting against the currents,” White said. “We also have divers that dive under the ice, they go in through a hole in the ice and do a search, and it’s a situation where you can very easily get lost under the ice.”
White outlined the dangerous and harrowing rescues the emergency dive team routinely engages in across Lackawanna County and beyond.
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“We had drownings in the Susquehanna River, we were called to Schuylkill County, Columbia County, we were out in the Poconos for dives for drowning victims, we also do boat rescues. … We had someone drown in the Lackawaxen River. … In September of 2023, we had the flooding in Chinchilla that came down and was a very dangerous situation,” he said. “There were two people who were swept away and drowned. We rescued over 90 people out of cars that were caught in that flooded water,” he said, explaining that his dive team’s area of coverage is Lackawanna and Susquehanna counties, but that they also respond to calls to Wyoming, Wayne, Bradford, Monroe and Pike counties.
Aside from the funds they receive from the state, they operate mostly through community donations, White said.
“Many businesses have been very generous to us and have helped with purchasing equipment for us,” he explained, adding that a dive truck and emergency equipment ranges in cost from $65,000 to $170,000 if bought used. New dive trucks can easily stretch up to half a million dollars in price.
For the past 42 years that they’ve been serving the community, the Dive Rescue Specialists have operated out of community buildings including the Justus Fire Company , the Scott Twp. Hose Company , and now the Meredith Hose Company . All funding goes a long way for the organization, such as toward a new center of their own.
“We’re building a building right now. … A garage meeting room facility,” White said. “We probably still need $100,000 to finish the building so we can move into it,” he said, adding the structure is up but “there’s no power, no heat, no lights, there’s a lot of things that need to be done.”
Fred Bales , chief of the dive team at Dive Rescue Specialists and former fire chief, teaches public safety dive instruction in Pennsylvania and beyond. The work takes a toll.
“We have positive things that we do when we talk about surface water rescue, ice rescue. … Those give us very positive outcomes because we get to save lives,” Bales said. “When we’re doing dive events, we’re not saving a life. We’re returning the body of a loved one to a family. We don’t like those calls. We like calls with happy endings. Unfortunately, the majority of the calls we get aren’t happy endings.” He added that their work includes assisting law enforcement, weapons recovery and vehicle recovery.
Bales called the dive team in Scott Twp. “incredibly unique,” as it operates as a standalone organization.
“To the best of our knowledge, we are the only independent (dive) team in the state,” Bales said.
He explained that back in the 1980s, there was no dedicated dive group, which led divers, who spanned communities across Lackawanna County , to establish one. “We addressed an unmet need,” Bales said.
White explained that replacing their diving gear every three years or so is paramount.
“Dive equipment is life safety equipment, your life involves that equipment being in good shape, properly maintained,” White said. “We turn it over regularly to make sure it’s up to snuff.”
He said that divers, themselves, must be replaced, as they only have a finite span that they are capable of public safety diving.
“Dive teams are very hard to keep going, because they typically go 10 years and then they’re retiring, and health problems, and so on, so you have to keep bringing on new people and training new people,” he said. “We’re probably on at least our fourth generation of divers. We replace divers as we go along, because if you don’t, you’ll be out of business.”
Lackawanna County grant recipients:
Archbald Community Ambulance and Rescue Squad, Archbald , $24,879.
Archbald Community Ambulance and Rescue Squad, EMS, Archbald , $15,000.
Artisan Fire Company , Jermyn , $12,018.
Black Diamond Hose Company No. 2, Archbald , $12,448.
Blakely Borough Community Ambulance Association , Peckville , $13,524.
Blakely Borough Community Ambulance Association EMS, Peckville , $15,000.
Blakely Hose Company No. 2, Blakely $14,385.
Chinchilla Hose Company of South Abington Twp , South Abington Twp ., $14,170.
Chinchilla Hose Company of South Abington Twp . EMS, South Abington Twp ., $10,000.
Carbondale Fire Department , Carbondale , $12,233.
Clarks Summit Fire Company 1, Clarks Summit, $13,524.
Clarks Summit Fire Company 1 EMS, Clarks Summit, $15,000.
Columbia Hose Company No. 5, Carbondale , $12,663.
Cottage Hose Ambulance Corps ., Carbondale , $12,879.
Cottage Hose Company No. 2, Carbondale , $13,739.
Covington Independent Fire Company , Covington Twp ., $14,600.
Covington Independent Fire Company EMS, Covington Twp ., $15,000.
Crystal Fire Company No. 1, Jermyn , $13,739.
Dalton Fire Company , Dalton, $13,309.
Dive Rescue Specialists , Peckville , $15,000.
Dunmore Fire Department , Dunmore , $15,246.
Eagle Hose Company No. 1, Dickson City , $15,000.
Eagle McClure Hose Company No. 1 Station, Taylor , $14,815.
East Side Hose Company No. 4, Archbald , $12,018.
Elmhurst Roaring Brook Fire Company , Roaring Brook Twp ., $15,246.
Eureka Hose Company No. 4, Olyphant , $13,309.
Eynon Sturges Volunteer Hose Company No 3, Eynon , $25,955.
Fleetville Volunteer Fire Company , Fleetville, Benton Twp ., $12,879.
Grattan Singer Hose Company No. 1, Simpson , $12,879.
Greenfield Twp . Volunteer Fire Company of Lackawanna County EMS, Greenfield Twp ., $15,000.
Greenfield Twp . Volunteer Fire Company of Lackawanna County , Greenfield Twp ., $14,385.
Greenwood Hose Company No .1, Moosic , $16,322.
Jefferson Township Volunteer Fire Company , Jefferson Twp ., $14,385.
Jessup Hose Company No. 1, Jessup, $12,233.
Jessup Hose Company No. 2, Jessup, $15,676.
Jessup Hose Company No. 2 EMS, Jessup, $15,000.
Justus Volunteer Fire Company , Clarks Summit, $13,094.
Justus Volunteer Fire Company EMS, Clarks Summit, $15,000.
Lawrence Hose Company No. 1, Old Forge , $13,524.
Liberty Hose Company No. 6, Olyphant , $12,018.
Madisonville Independent Fire Company , Madison Twp ., $13,094.
Meredith Hose Company , Childs, $12,663.
Moscow Volunteer Fire & Hose Company FC, Moscow , $14,385.
Moscow Volunteer Fire & Hose Company EMS, Moscow , $15,000.
Old Forge Hose and Engine Company FC, Taylor , $13,739.
Olyphant Ambulance EMS, Olyphant , $15,000.
Olyphant Hose Company No. 2, Olyphant , $12,879.
Pennsylvania Ambulance EMS, Dunmore , $15,000.
Queen City Hose Company No. 8 FC, Olyphant , $12,879.
Scott Twp. Hose Company , Scott Twp., $13,524.
Scott Twp. Hose Company EMS, Scott Twp., $15,000.
Scranton City Bureau of Fire , Scranton , $16,322.
Spring Brook Volunteer Fire Company , Moscow , $12,663.
Taylor Fire and Rescue , Taylor , $20,000.
Thornhurst Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company , Thornhurst, $13,094.
Throop Hose Company No. 1, Throop, $12,879.
Throop Volunteer Hose Company No. 3, Throop, $12,018.
Whites Crossing Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company , Carbondale , $13,309.
Whitmore Hose Company , Mayfield , $12,448.
William Walker Hose Company , Jermyn , $15,461.
William Walker Hose Company EMS, Jermyn , $15,000.
Wilson Fire Company Number 1, Peckville , $13,309.
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