Dingman Township Volunteer Fire Department issues statement to Facebook commenter

A message from the “poor management” of our Department:

Some of you may have seen a post on a community Facebook page that was written by a former crew member. A crew member that our department decided to remove from our units in May 2023 after issues involving her arose on another incident.

On [June 2] at approximately 0244 hours, the ambulance stationed at our Buist Rd. facility was involved in a single vehicle crash while they were responding to an incident in Shohola Township. Fortunately, neither of the crew members were injured in the crash. The ambulance suffered major damage. The incident was investigated by the Pennsylvania State Police and no citations were issued. The incident that they were responding to when the crash occurred was covered by our unit from the Log Tavern station.

The “inexperienced” crew that the author details on her posts have answered hundreds of calls for our agency alone, in addition to all the other emergencies they responded to with the other EMS units they are affiliated with.

The crew that day was working a 24 hour shift and answered only one other medical emergency during that shift. The crew was not fatigued from being overworked. The crews have relatively few requirements during their daily routine: Check the truck and make sure the station is clean. After those two items are accomplished, they can relax in our lounge that is equipped with recliners and a couch. At 2100 hours they are permitted to bunk down (go to bed) for the night. Does that mean they are awake all other hours? Absolutely not, the crew often catches a cat nap in those recliners. The writer is correct that we ask that they are awake when visitors are present (during daylight hours).

While the loss of our ambulance is a setback for the Department, our officers were prepared and by 0600 hours Sunday morning, the Buist Rd. Station was back in service utilizing the reserve unit that the department kept for occasions such as this.

The Department invites anyone that may have questions concerning our operations to please contact us at 570-686-3696, dingmanfire@gmail.com, or stop down on any Wednesday evening at 1900 hours.

In closing we feel it is appropriate to use the same statement that was used the last time the author penned about us on Facebook: Our staff and volunteers remain fully committed and will continue to provide the quality service that is a hallmark of this organization.

Thank you all for your continued support.

Dingman Township Volunteer Fire Department

Dingman Township

(This statement was originally posted on the Department’s Facebook page.)