by Alex Lloyd Gross
Effective 12:01 AM today, the Newportville Fire Company in Bristol Township will no longer be responding to any calls for service. This, after township council made what many residents are calling a boneheaded decision to shut down the fire station. Also, effective 12:01 AM certain area of Bristol Township became less safe for anyone who is in that area and more expensive. That statement is not hyperbole or fearmongering.
There no are longer five fire companies in the township, there are four. Those four are manned by very highly trained and capable first responders. Those four are not situated in the fire district previously served by NFC. That means those fire trucks when called WILL take longer to get there, Those extra minutes are vital . At times volunteer fire companies are delayed, due to lack of manpower.
At times, they don’t show up at all. Say for example a fire alarm at 2:30 AM. Assume that it’s a weekday and firefighters have to come from home. That’s five to seven minutes before they get to the station. They then go responding after eight minutes, which according to national standards is unacceptable. However, every volunteer company in America has had that happen, including NFC. If there is no response, the company is replaced and the process starts all over again. The fire alarm went off for a reason. It is still ringing.
Four fire stations instead of five. Every address in the township will be covered by a fire station. Just how long it takes to show up is a matter for concern and makes people in that district less safe.
Some residents that live in close proximity to a firehouse get a discount on their homeowners insurance. Kiss that savings goodbye. The firehouse must be functioning, not sitting empty, out of service. That discount no longer applies. They will have to pay more money to the insurance company for premiums..
Fire Police response is going to be hurt, due to the closing. Those are the people that direct traffic at crash scenes. Stations 10, 13, and now 14 do not have a fire police unit. The only two stations that did were 11 and 12. 12 just closed and now fire police from Croydon are going to be expected to cover the entire township with less than 10 officers. That means police will have to do it. More overtime for police or more police hired. That equals more taxes.
So what will happen to the buildings or equipment? No one knows, it is being sorted out by lawyers that NFC has to pay, instead of using that money to buy equipment to save lives. The last calls for service was to assist the medics and a fire police call for a crash on New Falls Road.
Station 82 on Bath Road now sits empty. Station 12 on New Falls Road has all of the equipment and that station has been locked down. About 11:00 PM last night, the trucks rolled out of Bath Road for the final time, leaving some members in tears. 10,20, 30, 40 or even 60 years of service snuffed out by The entire Bristol Township Council with the exception of Ray Blaylock who voted against the closure. “At least he had the balls and brains to know what was going on”, said one member not authorized to speak to the media. Craig Bowen also voted against the closure but seconded the motion to close the stations. Some of council are up for re election next year. The ones that voted to close the firehouse.
Council voted August 20 to close the firehouse. Facts used as the basis for the closure were strongly disputed by Chief Ryan Cummings. he said council also twisted facts to make their decision. For example, Former member Fred Black was accused of misappropriating taxpayer money. He was arrested and the case is winding it’s way though court. This theft happened back in 2022 yet he was elected Chief in 2025. On the surface, that looks bad for NFC. The facts. This culminated in December 2024. Three things happened that month. At the monthly meeting:
1 An audit committee was formed to track spending.
2 Black was elected Chief
During the month the audit committee met and discovered suspicious transactions. They started small around 2022. The committee froze all credit/debit cards, investigated farther. When Black’s account was flagged, he was removed as chief and the issue was immmediatley reported to Randee Mazur, Township manager.
To Juxtapose this, Jessica Ireland, a former department head and friend of Mazur misappropriated taxpayer money. When Mazur found out, she allowed Ireland to continue using the credit card and handling taxpayer funds. Mazur finally fired her and reported this to police. The township kept it quiet and did not issue any statements until this publication broke the story. Mazur, a resident of Abington Twp still keeps her position, unscathed.
Ed note The author is a member of NFC