Mutual Aid

 

UMFC operates in a mutual aid network with Pennsylvania and New Jersey-based fire companies in surrounding communities. Mutual aid is a reciprocity framework intended to provide leverage by combining the resources of many fire companies to fight structural (home/building) fires.

In a nutshell, UMFC gets assistance from other fire companies when we receive structural fire calls in Upper Makefield Township—and we will send apparatus and firefighters when summoned to neighboring communities.

UMFC Mutual Aid Protocol

When UMFC receives a report of a structural fire, we deploy a minimum of 2 engines and 1 tanker with a total of 4,750 gallons, up to a maximum of an additional engine and tanker carrying another 4,750 gallons. Concurrently, our mutual aid network is dispatched, and will travel to the call location unless recalled by an UMFC officer who’s on the scene.

UMFC’s average response time from dispatch to arrival is 9-14 minutes, and that of our mutual aid network ranges from 15-20 minutes or more.

The 7 fire companies listed in the table below are closest and therefore the ones we provide mutual aid to (and receive mutual aid from) most frequently.

Fire Company

Town, State

Apparatus

Total Water (Gallons)

Newtown Fire Association

Newtown, PA

2 Engines & 1 Ladder

1,750

Lingohocken Fire Company

Wycombe, PA

1 Engine & 1 Tanker

4,000

New Hope Fire Company

New Hope, PA

1 Engine & 1 Tanker

5,000

Midway Fire Company

Lahaska, PA

1 Tanker

4,000

Union Fire Company

Titusville, NJ

1 Tanker & 1 Utility vehicle

3,500

Yardley Makefield Fire Company

Yardley, PA

1 Engine & 1 Ladder

1,000

Northampton Township Fire Company

Richboro, PA

1 Engine & 1 Tanker

2,800