Residents fired up after Bellevue Borough Council decertifies volunteer fire department

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Bellevue residents and firefighters mentioned they have been blindsided after the borough council voted to decertify the volunteer fireplace division final week.

On Tuesday, droves of firefighters confirmed up earlier than a heated assembly in Bellevue. Residents mentioned they’re pissed off and disillusioned with the transfer. 

“I am struggling to grasp how the city is extra secure and cheaper to function with out the wonderful providers of the volunteers?” one resident mentioned.

The Pittsburgh Bureau of Fireplace is now dealing with calls popping out of Bellevue after the council voted to decertify Columbia Hose, Hook, and Ladder Firm. The borough is now left with at the least two paid firefighters and one engine to answer emergencies. 

“The best way you handled these firefighters, you have to be ashamed,” one other resident mentioned.

Many residents really feel it was a slap within the face that they didn’t have a say within the transfer. 

“To make that kind of determination and never get the general public enter, I critically query your capacity to manipulate and defend the residents of this borough,” one resident mentioned.

Councilperson Sabreena Miller, who voted towards the decertification, blasted the board for the way every thing was dealt with. 

“The residents have each proper to have some kind of public engagement,” Miller mentioned. “You pulled a stunt as a result of that is one thing you had within the works for fairly a while. You could possibly have dealt with this in a greater manner.”

The council introduced a report from research it had performed that famous the corporate doesn’t have the staffing capability to offer sufficient providers. 

“This was soiled,” mentioned Glenn Prichard, former Bellevue volunteer fireplace division chief. “As a Bellevue resident, I do not approve of how this went down. My greatest concern is the hazard you’re leaving individuals in.”

No board members wished to speak to KDKA-TV on Tuesday after the assembly.