History

The East Whiteland Volunteer Fire Association was organized by a group of concerned citizens who called a meeting Monday, August 11, 1952, to form a fire company to assist Paoli and Malvern Fire Companies and provide additional protection for East Whiteland Township. The application for the fire company's charter was submitted March 16, 1953 and approved and received on March 24, 1953. During the first year, the emphasis was on soliciting membership, training new firefighters and raising funds to purchase the first fire truck and to build a firehouse, the firehouse being a longer term goal. By the time the Association held its First Anniversary, 110 members had been enrolled in the company and the treasury stood at $5,586.63. Plans were in the works to purchase the first truck, a 1954 Autocar/Harwick pumper.

On Sunday March 27, 1955 the company held an Open House at the temporary firehouse, a garage donated rent-free by McCoy Cockerham to house the brand new fire truck. In April, firefighters began weeks of training with the new truck and fire equipment, and the new house siren was installed to summon members to calls.

The third anniversary was held at the temporary firehouse in April of 1956, where plans were displayed for the new station. By January 1957, the new station was in use and located on the West side of Planebrook Road between the Cockerham property and Route 30. By the end of the decade, the company was averaging 10 firefighters per call.

From the 50's into the 70's, the nature of emergencies shifted from woods and field fires, to building and vehicle fires. The rural environment was changing to a more densely populated suburban area including the addition of new roads including Rt 202.

On September 10, 1960, east Whiteland Township held its first parade in conjunction with the dedication of the new firehouse, housing of apparatus and dedication of the new township building, located at Planebrook Road and Prospect Avenue.

In the summer of 1969, the association purchased its first yellow fire truck. Due to the increase in industry and traffic along the Rt 202 corridor, this color was chosen for higher visibility, than the traditional red. Yellow has remained the primary color of the apparatus ever since. The following year, construction began on an addition to the firehouse. A second floor was added, which included a kitchen, community/meeting room which freed up space on the first floor for offices, apparatus and eventually bunk rooms for personnel.

In 1979, the Association's first ambulance went into service. It wasn't until March 9, 1979 at 8:35pm, that the Ambulance Division officially went into service. From March through December, the first year in service, the ambulance responded to 332 calls. In the 80's the ambulance remained very busy. In 1980, the ambulance responded 422 times and in 1988, 476 times.

In 1983, the association experienced one of the worst fires in its history. It was a house fire in the township resulting in five members of one family, including three small children, dying in the fire. This fire strongly affected the firefighters from East Whiteland as well as surrounding fire companies who were called to assist. This fire prompted stronger fire prevention efforts throughout the community, including distribution and maintenance of smoke detectors.

During the 90's, there were many signs of change evident, including new firehouse proposals, the ending of the firehouse siren's wail for emergency calls, an increase of Hazardous Materials Incidents and Automatic Fire Alarms, the institution of paid firefighters, the use of helicopters for patient transport, and the response by paramedics to serious incidents.

Through a variety of fundraising activities since 1953, the Auxiliary has raised funds for the Association, in recent years resulting in the renovation of the Forsythe Hall and the kitchen. When requested by firefighters at the scene, the Auxiliary will respond with food and beverages at all hours of the day or night during prolonged incidents. As the Association proceeds through 2000 and beyond, we have seen career staff provided by East Whiteland Township, which augments the volunteer personnel by being on duty 24 hours, 7 days a week to answer emergency calls. The Association has obtained a neighboring property as an investment, until such time a newly constructed or renovated firehouse is more feasible. The Association has teamed up with Explorer Post 555 which allows kids to explore options within the ranks of the fire company at age 14. At age 16, they can join the fire company as a Junior Firefighter. This program has successfully provided the company a number of well trained firefighters over the past several years.

The East Whiteland Volunteer Fire Association has grown immensely since the early days of 1953. A statement once said years ago still stands true to this day: