Crime & Safety

Public Hearing Coming for Option Fire Company's Future in Baldwin

Borough management hopes for two-district system. Option wants to keep its fire company in central Baldwin.

Tension between Option Independent Fire Company volunteers and Baldwin Borough municipal officials has been palpable at public borough meetings this month, with borough officials remaining noncommittal over Option Fire's future and Option officials remaining adamant that the borough wants to shut the company down.

Tuesday night marked the second straight Baldwin Council meeting that was attended by larger than usual crowds, and most of the gathering public has been curious as to what the future holds for fire service in the borough.

Both sides of the debate—will Option Fire remain open as is or merge with Baldwin's other two fire companies?—have been told in public, but on Tuesday, borough leaders asked residents to wait for a public hearing on the topic to discuss the matter again. That hearing will take place in the auditorium of the Baldwin Borough Municipal Building along Churchview Avenue on Wednesday, Aug. 14, at 6:30 p.m.

Should all go as planned for Baldwin's municipal leaders, borough Manager John Barrett said in a July 11 Patch article, Baldwin's three fire companies will be condensed into two—one operating out of north Baldwin and the other out of the south.

But Option officials maintain that going from three companies to two would put residents and structures in the central part of the borough (where Option's headquarters is, along Streets Run Road) in danger.

Further complicating the matter is a dispute in Allegheny County's Orphans' Court Division between Option and Baldwin over the assets of the Becks Run Volunteer Fire Department, which was decertified by the Baldwin Council in December following embezzlement charges.

Borough officials are hoping to split some of Becks Run's assets between all three Baldwin fire companies and liquidate the rest of those assets in support of a special fund to be used for building a new, more centrally located south Baldwin fire station—and possibly an addition to the existing (north) Baldwin Independent Fire Company No. 1 station.

Option officials, however, want first pick over Becks Run's assets, saying that Becks Run officials wanted it that way.


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