The Upper Makefield Fire Company responded to 14 Emergency Responses with an average of 10 firefighters per call responding. The company was in-service for 55 man hours on emergencies. The Fire Company also responded to 2 medical calls with our QRS unit and 1 non emergency Chiefs Call. The Fire Company also held one training night in December on air pack recertification. The 2nd of 3 mandatory recertification on our airpacks held annually. Members are required to make 1 of the 3 nights. This accounted for another 30 man hours of training this month. The Fire Company was out in the community a lot this December. First, Santa & some members assisted the Upper Makefield Business Assoc., Newtown Lions, Newtown Exchange and local school districts at the Washington Crossing Inn with a Special Breakfast on December 7th. Then on December 8th crews were out in the snow to assist George Washington and his troops with practice for the Christmas Crossing. Marine 71 was in the river with Marine 53 (Titusville NJ) to make sure the Durham Boats made it across safely. December 22nd was the Santa Parade and Food Drive, 1000 Santa goodie bags were delivered to residents along the parade route and several hundred pounds of non-perishable food were collected for the Penndel Food Pantry. Finally on December 25th (Christmas Day) crews were out again to assist George Washington and his troops. This time the Marine unit was in the water and a crew for Rescue 71 was needed to assist with crowd control and QRS. The event was well attended by the public and went off without a hitch.
A quick review of 2013, UMFC ended the year with 163 Fire Calls, 28 QRS Calls & 15 Chiefs Calls for a Total of 245 incidents. Out of the 245 calls, 29 calls were outside of Upper Makefield Township. UMFC averaged 11 firefighters per call for the year and totaled 1133.75 man hours on Fire Calls. UMFC held 19 drills during 2013 for a total of 59 hours of in house training and 854 man hours.
