The East End Fire Company of Tamaqua will no longer respond to calls.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Tamaqua Borough Council voted to suspend the fire company as of 8 a.m. today.

Council also authorized Solicitor Anthony Odorizzi to begin the process of decertifying the volunteer fire company for “emergency” reasons.

Asked for the reason, borough Fire Chief James Connely said it was because of a poor response record.

“As they said, it’s an ‘emergency’ because they’re not responding to calls. They’re responding to less than 25% of the calls they’re dispatched for which turns into an emergency situation for the fellow firefighters who are responding to the same call,” Connely said. “They’re not showing up.”

A resident asked how company volunteers could respond to calls when their response is being canceled less than 9 minutes after the initial call.

“Everybody else is making it,” Connely said.

Connely said he had a list of responses from the fire company.

Council Vice President Ron Bowman who headed the meeting in President Brian Connely’s absence, then asked for the meeting to resume.

“End of discussion,” he said.

Council amended the agenda to add both motions pertaining to the fire company. Votes were unanimous.

With the upcoming decertification of the East End, the borough will be served by the South Ward, American Hose and Citizens fire companies.