Description
THELIMERICKFIRECOMPANY
A Brief History: 1921 - PresentThe Limerick Fire Company was organized in 1921 and chartered as a volunteer fire company in 1927. The company was chartered to service Limerick Township, Montgomery County and is one of only two fire companies servicing in Limerick Township. It received an advanced ruling from the IRS as a 501( c)(3) organization in 1988. The fire company began with twenty-seven charter members. Today, membership exceeds 250 people with 35 active firefighters. In 1927, Limerick Township was a mostly rural - primarily agricultural - community. Today the township is a major suburban hub with a mostly residential population approaching 14,000 people in more than 5,000 households.
Through the years, the Limerick Fire Company - an all volunteer service - has kept pace with the changing needs of the area through facilities, equipment, volunteers and training. These changes have been significant. The Limerick Nuclear Power Plant necessitates on-going specialized training for nuclear incidents. The construction of the Route 422 by-pass necessitated the addition of vehicle rescue services. The fire company began providing this service in 1996. Since then they have performed nearly ninety (90) vehicle rescue extrication's saving over 100 lives. This major transportation artery also brought incredible population growth.
This growth is documented in the census counts showing a 102.3% increase in the population between 1990 and 2000 - from 6,691 to 13,534. The fire company's emergency response volume has tripled since 1990.
Emergency Call Volume
In 2001 there were 397 emergency calls needing an average of nine fire fighting personnel per call. Through October 31, 2002, we have run 351 emergency calls. This projects out to 421 total emergency calls. This will be a 6% increase over 2001. In 2002 alone, we have performed fourteen (14) confirmed vehicle extrications. To date, 87% of our total emergency responses are in Limerick Township. Our mutual outside of Limerick township accounts for only 13% of our total emergency responses.
