Fire Rescue News - Egg Harbor Township fire chief says solar panels can free up money in companies' tight budgets

Posted: Friday, July 1, 2011 6:13 pm

By WALLACE McKELVEY Staff Writer pressofAtlanticCity.com

kept pace with increasing operational costs, forcing them to make due with older equipment. They say plans to install solar panels on the roofs of most of the stations would allow the companies to spend less on utilities over time.

“The township has grown in the last 10 to 15 years, but money for the fire companies didn’t grow,” township Chief William Danz said. “We’ve been getting the same $30,000 since 1976.”

Each of the five departments receives a state-mandated $30,000 from the township, divided evenly between equipment and maintenance, he said.

Danz said the township also funds an overall departmental budget of $147,000 and sets aside capital-improvement funds that vary each year. This year, he said, the various fire companies received $190,000 to replace equipment.

But the money only goes so far, he said.

“It costs $12,000 to suit up one firefighter,” he said. “For $15,000, you’re getting a man and a quarter.”

Some departments have used the same fire trucks for more than 30 years, about a decade longer than they normally would, Danz said.

While all of the departments regularly apply for federal and state grants, Danz said those have also become sparse. And many of the grants that are available require a funding match of 10 percent or more from the department, he said.

“Say we win a grant for $300,000, we’ll still have to raise $30,000 to keep it,” he said.

With an already limited budget, Danz said utility costs have become the greatest burden for the firefighters. Departments have relied on more fundraising drives and special events — with limited success in this economy — to keep the doors open, he said.

An average mailing returns about a third of the envelopes sent out, he said.

“I refuse to pound and pound on my guys to go out on street corners to collect quarters, but it’s a necessary evil,” he said.

Chief Michael Fiedor, of the Cardiff Volunteer Fire Company, said his department spends about $1,900 per month on electricity. The propane bill clocks in between $1,800 and $2,400, depending on the season, he said.

Unlike some other departments, Fiedor said the Cardiff firefighters are lucky to have a fire hall that offsets some of the costs.

“We try to keep the hall as active as possible,” he said.

But Fiedor said the added expense of the hall’s use also means added utility expenses.

“For a weekend wedding, we may have a caterer using a lot of propane for cooking Friday through Sunday morning for the event,” he said.

In the past two weeks, Fiedor said the company has met with two different companies who may install solar panels on the roof of Station No. 2 on English Creek Avenue. Without grant money, the cost would be about $200,000, he said.

“There is some grant money out there, so we may be able to apply for them and offset the costs,” he said.

Mike Otaegui, president of the Bargaintown Volunteer Fire Company, said his department will be meeting with a second solar panel company Tuesday. The panels would go a long way to decreasing the department’s electric bills, which range from $50 per month in winter to $250 in summer. When its second station is completed later this summer, he said that cost will likely double.

“Not only are we going to be green, but we’ll be saving money and turning that money back toward the fire department,” he said.

While he wishes the fire departments were better funded, Danz said that’s not practical in the current economy. The firefighters need to work out their budgets on their own, he said.

“We’re trying to help ourselves so that we can take care of business and put more money toward firefighting,” he said.