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Last week, with the assistance of Fire Chief Lonnie Campbell and Firefighter/EMT Shawn Rice, Wellsboro Fire Department hosted a regional meeting of local fire departments with guest speaker Tim Solobay, the PA State Fire Commissioner. Among issues addressed, attendees discussed the possibility of future plans to build local training facilities. Local training facilities would help to overcome the prohibitive nature of commuting long distances to receive training, as is the current situation.

Campbell stressed the importance of the meeting, as it allowed a number of counties to “be able to have a face to face gathering where we can reach out to our state officials and be able to voice some [regional] concerns…” To that end, Solobay took a number of questions during the assembly. PA State Representative Matt Baker also attended the event.

While the meeting was fruitful in a number of ways, Emergency Management Coordinator Benton Best names the retaining of current volunteers and recruitment of future volunteers as the most important topic, particularly recruitment from among the youth (16+). “I think it’s incredibly important that we task our younger population with helping their communities and supporting the fire service,” Best says, “There’s many wonderful opportunities.”

WHP encourages Wellsboro residents to mark their calendars for the upcoming annual fundraiser in October—after all, donations are an investment in keeping our community safe.