Aquashicola Volunteer Fire Company’s siren started to roar.

Bill George, the company’s chief, stepped out of George’s Plumbing and Heating, his business located across the street from the firehouse. It was Thursday afternoon, and George had just received a call: A box truck rolled over on its side was lying on Route 248, outside Palmerton.

George climbed into his truck, driving down Little Gap Road toward the highway. A yellow fire engine was not far behind.

The driver escaped with minor injuries, and after responders from Lehigh Township arrived on scene, Aquashicola volunteers were cleared to leave. But not every call that comes into the company is so straightforward. “You just don’t know what you’re getting into,” George said.

Aquashicola Fire has responded to just under 120 calls since January. And with three months left in the year, George noted, it wouldn’t be surprising if the company hit 150.

That’s especially possible since Aquashicola extended its coverage to part of Towamensing, the result of ongoing struggles within the township’s own volunteer status.

Towamensing’s most recent fire chief, Ryan Bowman, resigned from the position in September via email after just a few months, according to the township office.

Bowman’s appointment followed the resignation of another former fire chief, Ryan Snyder, in May.

When he was chosen to lead Towamensing Fire Company in early summer, Bowman inherited a shrinking volunteer roster and a struggling company. “We’re at a crisis point,” he said.

As a result, township supervisors decided to enlist the aid of three neighboring companies — from Franklin Township, Polk Township or Aquashicola — for all emergency responses in Towamensing.

“Our duty as supervisors is to make sure that our residents are protected in the event of an emergency,” Penny Kleintop, chair of the Towamensing board of supervisors, said in August. “That’s all we care about.”

When the protocol was first announced, some of Towamensing’s firefighters voiced opposition.

They said the procedure — which gives Franklin, Polk or Aquashicola fire companies on-scene leadership for emergencies in Towamensing, depending on which is dispatched — undermined their authority.

“Morale internally here is low, because there’s not enough of us,” Bowman said after the procedure was adopted. “But to throw this on top of us as well … What has been left has been stomped in the ground.”

Now without a chief, Towamensing Fire Company’s future remains uncertain, but there has been no official announcement of dissolution.

George was clear that neither Aquashicola, Franklin or Polk fire companies are interested in taking charge of the one in Towamensing. “We don’t want to take over their department,” he said.

But there’s still a need for fire protection in the township. And until Towamensing fire beefs up its roster, the three other companies plan to fill the void.

Statewide struggle

Towamensing’s volunteer firefighter strain isn’t unique. Around this time last year, a Pennsylvania Legislature study showed that the state’s volunteer firefighters number a little over one-tenth today than in the 1970s.

Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Lehigh/Northampton, cited that study during a Senate Democratic Policy Committee held at Delaware County Community College on Thursday, saying that decline alone should “tell us that we need to do something and quickly.”

Adding to the stress are an aging volunteer pool and growing population, Jerry Ozog, executive director of the Pennsylvania Fire and Emergency Services Institute, testified during the hearing.

The state’s population has increased by at least 1 million over the last few decades.

“These demographic changes directly affect emergency services with an increased demand in calls associated with a decrease in the pool of available citizens to recruit for volunteer firefighting,” Ozog said.

In his testimony, Pennsylvania State Fire Commissioner Bruce Trego said length of service reward programs, free college tuition and local tax credit programs could aid in the recruitment of new volunteer firefighters.

He added that the future of volunteer companies might include combining efforts.

Trego also noted that of Pennsylvania’s 2,462 fire companies, over 90 percent are currently volunteer.

Sen. Anthony Williams (D- Delaware/Philadelphia) also brought up the issue of changing the culture of volunteer firefighters.

Trego agreed, saying that the social structure of communities has changed, and volunteer firefighters and fire houses are no longer central to community functions.

He said we need to adjust to that reality, and planned regionalization will need to be a part of that.

“There are probably more communities that need to take a good, hard look at the number of apparatus, where the tax base is, where the calls are and look at providing the proper protection for that area,” Trego said.