From Staff Reports

LOCK HAVEN - Area fire companies are low on manpower and those who do commit their time and energy are getting up in age.

That's among the messages presented to the Clinton County Community Foundation board of directors at a recent meeting by Jonathon Plessinger, director of the Clinton County Department of Emergency Services.

Plessinger's discussion marks the foundation board's initiative to invite key speakers from the community to address critical challenges to help educate board members as they award thousands of dollars in competitive grant funds each year to nonprofits, charities, fire and ambulance companies and municipalities.

Plessinger did not hold back, calling the manpower shortage a crisis because "no one is coming behind us" in terms of younger people stepping up to volunteer with fire companies, or to take on paid positions with EMS and even at the 911 emergency communications center.

He used rural Kettle Creek Volunteer Fire Co. - serving both Clinton and Potter counties - as an example as its volunteers comprise a median age in the late-60s.

Moreover, with fewer emergency medical services - ambulances - available in Clinton County, residents who need an ambulance "are seeing longer wait times" for responses, Plessinger acknowledged.

He referred to the lack of enough paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) here as a "code red status" problem.

Statewide, Plessinger noted the 300,000 volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania in the 1970s has today shrunk to about 37,000.

Thus, many departments are being forced to go to paid services.

Joining Plessinger at the Foundation meeting was Clinton County Commissioner Jeff Snyder, who talked about the 2023 elimination of Lock Haven Hospital's inpatient services and the impact here.

Snyder also pledged continued support of the financially struggling Bucktail Medical Center in South Renovo, which recently had to close its inpatient nursing facility.

The Clinton County Community Foundation annually awards thousands of dollars to area fire companies for life-saving equipment and tools. Indeed, the foundation approved over $75,000 in grant funds to seven fire and ambulance companies for equipment or upgrades that include a stretcher, tools for a new fire truck, partial funding for a new vehicle, a generator and more.

Among the grants awarded was $3,771 to the county Department of Emergency Services to help buy what's called Personal Accountability Tags, or PAT tag system, that identify first-responders at the scene of an incident.

They also provide emergency information specific to the first-responder, including photo, name, agency, QR code, medical data and more.

The county 911 center employs what's called "Rapid SOS & Prepared Live" technology that provides a link on responders' cell phones - and/or 911 callers' cell phones - that allows that person to take photos of what they see to help first-responders and dispatchers understand the nature of incidents and the proper response, Plessinger said.

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