Kennett Square wants back in on a regional fire commission it helped found but left because of rising costs
Under the agreement, a 20% annual cap will keep funding predictable. The other municipalities in the commission will have to approve the borough rejoining.
After increasing and unpredictable costs, Kennett Square left the regional fire and emergency medical services commission it helped found nearly a decade ago. But with some limitations in place to ease the financial burden, they plan to rejoin the fold.
The borough council voted unanimously last week to rejoin the Kennett Fire and EMS Regional Commission, one of the early regionalization efforts for fire services that pools resources and funding for three area fire companies from several nearby municipalities.
The commission, in turn, voted this week to accept Kennett Square’s return, and will now go to its five other municipalities for approval.
Under the agreement, which is a three-year commitment, the commission will cap any annual increases to the municipalities in cost at 20%. It would also encourage all the partner municipalities to apply for grants to support the fire service and EMS needs.
“That’s still a large, large increase annually, but it at least gives us a range or a parameter that we can budget within,” said Bob Norris, president of Kennett Square borough council. “But we’re all working to make sure it gets nowhere near 20%, that’s for sure.”
Kennett Fire and EMS Regional Commission, formed in 2017, consists of an intermunicipal agreement between East Marlborough, Kennett, Newlin, Pennsbury, and Pocopson Townships. It supports three local fire companies — Longwood Fire Company No. 25, Kennett Fire Company No. 1, and Po-Mar-Lin Fire Company No. 36 — with combined resources and funding for all fire, rescue, and emergency services. The three fire companies remain separate entities.
Regionalization of fire companies have become more common in the state, as the cost for fire service increases and volunteers decline. Avondale and West Grove recently voted to merge their companies into one unit. In Delaware County, Swarthmore and Nether Providence — now joined by four more towns — began exploring a merger earlier this year to address dwindling volunteers and aging equipment.
But after years of chronic underfunding for the fire companies in the Kennett Fire and EMS Regional Commission, the municipalities had quite the catch up, Norris said.
There had been years before the commission started where municipalities would pay nothing for fire and EMS, especially as much of the fire service in Pennsylvania consists of volunteers. But that was beginning to change, with the landscape slowly turning to career firefighters and first responders.
In 2020, fire and EMS services cost Kennett Square $296,231. By 2022, it grew to $802,123, representing a 125% increase. In 2026, it totaled just shy of $1 million.
Quality of service was never an issue, but the cost was, Norris said. Though Kennett Square worked with the commission to reduce the increases, they were unable to come to any agreement, so they left in 2023, Norris said. When the borough looked for alternatives, however, they came up empty, finding no other local fire companies that could address the borough’s needs, or that had untapped services the borough could use.
Instead, they ended up contracting with the Kennett Fire and EMS Regional Commission. Ultimately, it cost them a seat at the table when decisions were being made.
“When they were setting budgets, ironically, as one example, we didn’t have a say or a voice in that. When they decided priorities, when they decided policies, we were in the audience, not at the table as a voting member,” Norris said.
Last year, Kennett Square borough council decided to approach the commission about returning, but sought financial constraints, Norris said. New council members who joined borough leadership in January reaffirmed that decision, which brought the vote forward this month.
Borough Mayor Matt Fetick, who served as the representative to the commission, told council last week that the once-tense and insulated fire companies had grown more unified over the years. It would be beneficial to have unity among the municipalities, too, he said.
“The economics are never going to be easy,” he told the council. “But I do think the fire departments have worked really hard and to see the municipalities working together on it, I think, will instill more confidence in the fire and EMS providers.”
Speaking to the council last week before their vote, Ethan Cramer, who served on the borough council during the early days of founding the commission, pressed them to rejoin, despite how, at one time, it was “messy,” “not easy” and “not fun,” he said.
“I think rejoining that commission says we’re back in the fray,” he said. “It’s not going to be easy, but those relationships between entities, between people, turn into lifting up those individuals in our community who do the most. For all the messiness, that’s worth it.”
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