Penn Hills officials have asked a state agency to help conduct a review of the municipality's seven volunteer fire departments to determine if they are operating as efficiently as they can be.

"The goal is to look at standardizing the services and determining whether there is equipment that is duplicated at the various stations," said Mohammed Rayan, municipal manager.

Deputy Mayor Sara Kuhn stressed that the review was not initiated by the administration or council but rather "came from fire chiefs themselves."

Rayan said while closing stations is not the focus of the review, consolidation "would not be out of the question if that's what is recommended."

"We're doing this to make sure that the level of service the fire companies deliver to the community can continue into the future," said Rayan, who is a volunteer firefighter. "But we're not going to support
shutting down fire stations if it can't be shown that doing so is the
best thing to do."

The review, which will be coordinated by the Governor's Center for Local Government Services, is expected to take up to a year, Rayan said.

State Fire Commissioner Ed Mann praised Penn Hills' fire chiefs for undertaking the review.

"It's unfortunate that too many of our communities fail to examine their fire services until after serious problems crop up," he said.

Rayan said any savings that result from joint purchasing of equipment and supplies, consolidation or implementing other recommendations in the review would be used to help run the fire departments.

"This is in no way an attempt to save money and put it in the municipality's general fund," he said.

Penn Hills spends $500,000 to $600,000 a year to support its seven volunteer fire departments. This year, each company will get $39,000 -- split into two payments -- plus an additional $3,000 to cover the cost
of parts for its smaller vehicles. Penn Hills pays for worker
compensation for volunteer firefighters, insurance on vehicles and fuel.

Beginning next year, the municipality will begin giving the Penn No. 7 fire department on Universal Road an additional $25,000 a year toward the $52,000 paid annually on a loan to replace a 28-year-old ladder
truck Chief Randy Dalton described as "pretty much done and just not
worth repairing anymore."

Penn No. 7 recently took out a 15-year loan to buy a Pierce Arrow truck with a bucket attached to its 100-foot ladder that can be used at one of the municipality's high-rise apartment buildings.

The vehicle, which was a demo unit, costs $850,000 compared to $1 million for a new one, Dalton said.

The down payment for the new truck included about $225,000 from fundraising and service subscriptions during the past eight years, $80,000 from the sale of a back-up pumper truck to the Rosedale
Volunteer Fire Co. and another $8,000 from a scrap dealer who bought the
old ladder truck.

Rayan said helping No. 7 pay for the new ladder truck was a public safety decision that could not wait until the review is completed.

"We had decide whether it was the right thing for the community to rely on a ladder truck responding from a nearby community like Wilkins or Monroeville, or having one at the station closest to where our
tallest buildings are located," Rayan said.

Penn No. 7 also is the only department with a garage bay large enough to park the ladder truck, Dalton said.