Arnold hosting 130th annual Western Pennsylvania Firemen’s Association convention

Firefighters from across Western Pennsylvania will gather next week in Arnold for their annual convention.

The Western Pennsylvania Firemen’s Association’s 130th annual convention is scheduled to run from Thursday night to Monday morning.

Public events will include a golf outing Friday morning in Kiski Township; the Battle of the Barrel and a parade Saturday in Arnold; and a memorial service Sunday in Arnold.

State Fire Commissioner Thomas Cook is expected to attend the convention, Arnold No. 2 spokesman Chris O’Leath said.

Confirmed by the state Senate in June, Cook was previously assistant state fire commissioner and administrator of the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy. He retired from active firefighting as assistant chief of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire.

Also expected to attend is Deputy State Fire Commissioner John “J.C.” Tedorski, who worked his way through the ranks at Arnold No. 2 from junior firefighter to assistant chief. He was named city fire chief in 2008 and held that position for 12 years.

Arnold last hosted the convention, the 126th annual, in 2019.

In 2020, because of the pandemic, the association canceled the convention and replaced it with a one-day conference to conduct business. The usual banquets, sporting events and parade associated with the convention were not held.

The 128th annual convention was held in New Kensington in 2021, and last year’s 129th annual convention was held in Somerset.

It was last year that Donald Ferrante, president of Arnold No. 2, was elected president of the association. New officers will be elected Friday.

A “tent city” is no longer part of the convention. Arnold had the distinction of hosting the last tent city in 2019, O’Leath said.

O’Leath said it is no longer done because it is very labor intensive and kept several departments that don’t have the grounds or manpower from hosting the convention.

Instead, firefighters will stay in hotels while a few campers and motor homes will be situated on properties the department owns in Arnold, O’Leath said.

Event details

• O’Leath said spots still are available for the golf outing, which has a shotgun start at 9 a.m. Saturday at The Links at Spring Church in Kiski Township. Registration of $100 each or $360 for a foursome includes green fees, cart, lunch and steak dinner; dinner only is $45.

For details, call 724-882-0762 or email aveco2golf@gmail.com.

• The Battle of the Barrel will start at 9 a.m. Saturday in the 1800 block of Constitution Boulevard in front of Roosevelt Park. The road will be closed to all traffic from about 7 a.m. until 1 or 2 p.m., O’Leath said.

• On Saturday, parade judging will take place between noon and 3 p.m. at Valley High School in New Kensington. The parade is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. and will head down Drey Street to Fifth Avenue.

Residents are asked not to park along the parade route, including either side of Drey Street and on the first blocks of Ridge Avenue, Alcoa Drive and Woodmont Avenue where units will be lining up.

O’Leath could not say how large the parade will be but noted, “We’ve got units coming from a pretty fair distance.”

• Members who died over the past year will be honored during the memorial service at 2 p.m. Sunday in Calvary Lutheran Church.