West Penn Township Fire Chief Jeff Bradford said the township is benefiting from the fire company’s agreement with Tamaqua’s former East End Fire Company.

In July, the West Penn fire company announced that it was leasing equipment and space from the East End, which was removed from service by the Tamaqua Borough Council in the springtime. West Penn also brought on several former East End members.

“I just want everybody to know that this is benefiting us in the township. It’s coming in handy,” he said at Tuesday’s supervisors’ meeting. “We had a barn fire the other day. They (former East End members) were very much needed over there to help us facilitate a fill site and deliver water, s o that was great.”

Another recent fire “on the other side of the mountain,” he said, brought West Penn’s tanker and engine.

“They (East End) backfilled our station to protect West Penn Township. There was an engine here the entire time our other guys were over there (at the fire),” Bradford said.

He added that the fire company’s training is supplemented thanks to the addition of the leased equipment from the former East End.

“And even more so the manpower,” Bradford said, explaining that it allows for more in-depth training. “All in all at this point, it’s a really good thing. It’s helping the community and it’s helping the West Penn Fire Company.”

Bradford also noted that rumors about changed run cards are not true and said that West Penn volunteers are working alongside other departments when incidents occur.

“The Tamaqua fire company came down. There were no problems. We worked well together,” Bradford said.

During the meeting, supervisors accepted the fire company’s August activities report. During the month, fire personnel answered 16 calls, with six motor vehicle accidents, three wires/trees down, three structure fires, two calls for fire police, and two requests for the chief.