The goal is to recruit and train 200 firefighters within the central Pennsylvania region over a four-year period.
has been awarded a $2.2 million federal grant to recruit and train 200 firefighters within central Pennsylvania over a four-year period. That’s 55 new firefighters per year.
The commonwealth has gone through a dramatic decline from 300,000 volunteer firefighters in the 1970s to fewer than 38,000 today, according to Nate Silcox, chair of CapCOG Advisory Committee and president of Hampton Township Board of Commissioners. Kenneth Martin, treasurer of CapCOG and president of Upper Allen Township Board of Commissioners, said the grant is allowing the organization to be proactive as the need for public safety increases.
“It’s an extremely important program and it’s important to know that this four-year program will be offered at no costs to our local taxpayers because this is a federal grant,” he said.