Walnutport’s fire chief has expressed gratitude on behalf of the fire company to borough council on the heels of two fires on the same street.

Fire Chief Michael Wentz, of the Diamond Fire Company in Walnutport, thanked borough council at its meeting on Thursday after he noted there were two fires on Birch Street within the past month.

“Just last year, you guys approved no-parking on both sides,” Wentz said. “You guys took public safety first and foremost.”

Wentz said that during the fire on March 6, patrolman Scott Ledo helped a family that was already out of their house and got them down to the ambulance, including a 2-year-old child he wrapped in a blanket.

For that fire, firefighters responded at 10:50 p.m. March 6 to a single home at 315 Birch St.

A family of three and their two dogs were displaced from their home as a result of the fire.

A few weeks before that, Wentz said there was a kitchen fire at a home on Birch Street that was confined to the stove.

“Standing there and staring down the whole street, laying the hose, we’d have to lay the hose and set ladder truck up,” he said. “Positively absolutely no way it could have been done if there was parking on both sides,”

Councilman David Stankovic reciprocated the gratitude back to Wentz and the fire department.

“Thank you for doing a professional job,” Stankovic said.

In February 2024, residents questioned borough council about not being able to park on Birch Street.

Borough council in turn banned parking on Birch Street, between Lincoln Avenue and Williams Avenue, which drew the ire of several residents at that time who said that other streets in the borough have more parking than what they have available to them.

Wentz previously said if there’s a fire there, the fire company was not going to be responsible if it couldn’t get its ladder truck there.