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Palmyra Fire chief rebuts social-media claims, outlines staffing and fundraising pressures
Summary
David Dugan, chief of the Citizens Fire Company (Palmyra Fire Department), told council the department has 17 active volunteers, a fund-drive that can net about $80,000 in a strong year, and that training, worker-compensation and apparatus replacement costs are growing; he disputed several social-media claims about budgets and ownership and urged transparency.
David Dugan, chief of the Citizens Fire Company (Palmyra Fire Department), used public comment time to respond at length to council member social-media posts he described as inaccurate and to outline the department's financial and staffing challenges.
Dugan told council the department is 100% volunteer, was founded in 1891, and as of Dec. 2, 2025 has 17 active members for high-call-volume positions plus four administrative-only members. He said the department's annual fund drive can net about $80,000 in a good year (a roughly 29% response rate of borough and township households) and that the borough and township each contribute $30,000 toward joint operating funds ($60,000 total). Dugan also said the joint apparatus fund is $75,000 from each municipality, is held by the borough, and may be used only for primary pieces of apparatus with prior municipal approval.
Dugan disputed social-media statements attributed to council member Marcus Rydell/Riddell. He said the fire station is owned by the fire department, not the borough; that vehicle-fuel invoices are tracked and paid by the borough; that fire hydrant charges are set by Pennsylvania American Water and are not a fire-department cost; and that workers' compensation for firefighters is mandated by the state. He also corrected several numeric assertions and said the figure of a $4 million annual borough cost had been misunderstood when it had been discussed as a regional, shared, or high-end career-staffed estimate.
He described rising training burdens under a new firefighting-training requirement that he summarized as an 88-hour program (noting it as a significant time commitment) and warned that recruitment and retention are becoming more difficult. He requested greater transparency, said the department pays for an annual audit (noting $12,000 for the audit this year), and invited council members and residents to the department’s public meetings and records.
Council thanked the chief for his detailed remarks and said the facts were important for residents following prior discussions and social-media posts. No formal action on fire-department organization or funding was taken at this meeting; the comments were entered into the public record for further consideration in budget discussions.
