JT Fire Chief Decision at Jim Thorpe Borough Council Meeting

Name: JT Fire Chief Decision at Jim Thorpe Borough Council Meeting
Start: 2025-08-14T18:30:00-04:00
Location: Jim Thorpe High School

Schedule

Thu, 14 Aug, 2025 at 06:30 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Jim Thorpe High School | Jim Thorpe, PA

We need everyone who attended the last meeting in support of a JT LOCAL Fire Chief to come back for the August meeting plus more people wearing red. Last month the borough council pushed to nominate a new Fire Chief who doesn't live in the borough. Thanks to Borough Council member Connor Rodgers and the showing of concern from our local residents, Borough Council tabled the decision until this month.
Do to the awareness generated by the publicity of the last meeting, a pool of candidates emerged for the position. Of the new candidates, a few are active Firefighters in Jim Thorpe with extensive experience and strong relationships with our neighboring Fire Departments that help our town out during fires.(and we help them with fires in their towns)
Please attend the next meeting and show your support for our local Firefighters. Wear red so Council can see why you are there. We're not out of the woods yet, but the opportunity to have a local Fire Chief that lives and works in town is now a possibility! Please let Borough Council know if you agree that this is what you believe would be the smartest and safest decision for your home and community.
Here's a recap of what prompted this movement.
Please come and share your concerns about the future of our fire department. Our former Fire Chief was unjustly reprimanded by Jim Thorpe Borough Manager, Maureen Sterner. Former Fire Chief, Vincent Yaich is one of our town's most seasoned and knowledgeable volunteer firefighters. His knowledge of our water infrastructure, fire equipment, and his more than 50 years of fire fighting experience are an invaluable asset to our town. He is one of eight of our dedicated volunteers firefighters with more than 50 years of experience that our town may lose if Maureen and Borough Council vote in who we think they will be voting on at this meeting. Their prospective new chief doesn't even live in our town.
Former Fire Chief Vince Yaich Sr. is always first on the scene for every local fire. He is on the radio giving instructions on where each piece of equipment should approach the fire. where each engine should hook up to hydrants, and which equipment our surrounding neighboring boroughs, like Nesquehoning, should bring. If the Borough Council and Maureen hire an out-of-towner to lead our department I'm afraid it will fall apart and put people in danger, and you should be concerned too! Please come to the meeting and let them know that you are concerned.
Not only are we in danger of having a poorly qualified chief, but we're in danger of losing our entire squad. Firefighting is extremely dangerous and hazardous. To take orders from an unqualified chief is a liability that most of our volunteers do not want to fall victim to.
A few nights ago after a false alarm call for a structure fire on West Broadway I listened as our entire crew of veteran first on scene fire fighters agreed that they would retire if the Borough voted in a chief that doesn't live here. As a fellow volunteer firefighter, I understood, but as a resident, I was in fear to lose them. I joined the crew 2 years ago. Of all the volunteers in our town, these guys show up the most and are often the first guys through the door in a burning building. If they leave, we may be in trouble for a while. What happens at tonight's meeting may determine if JT fire department is full of seasoned veterans, or a skeleton crew.
COME TO THE MEETING AND WEAR A RED SHIRT FOR OUR FIREFIGHTERS!