UPPER MERION TOWNSHIP FIRE & EMS OVERVIEW & RECRUITMENT

Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania is located at the juncture of Montgomery, Delaware and Chester Counties, just a few miles from the City of Philadelphia border. The Township is 17 Square miles and boasts a population of 36,628. Upper Merion is the 26th largest municipality in PA, and has a greater population than 38 of 67 counties. From Thanksgiving to New Years we are the third largest city in daytime population and are considered the economic driver for Montgomery County and Southeastern PA. Approximately 70,000 people work in Upper Merion, over 30 million people visit here each year (82,000 per day average), and over 250,000 cars move through Upper Merion daily. The Route 422 bridge has more crossings daily than the Ben Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia.

Our journey into a combination fire and EMS department began in 2017-18 when Lafayette Ambulance struggled, and the three volunteer fire companies (King of Prussia, Swedeland and Swedesburg) were being challenged by increasing calls volume, changing county, state and national laws and rules; straining volunteers, plus full employment limited volunteer availability.

In 2019 the Township Supervisors decided to form the Upper Merion Township Public Safety Department, consolidating police, fire, emergency medical services and emergency management and overseen by a Public Safety Director/Chief of Police.

The Township started the process by hiring a career fire chief, six career firefighter-EMTs, six paramedics and six EMTs, and began to create a combination fire/EMS organization. Six years later, Upper Merion Township now has 24 Paramedics and EMT's and 20 Firefighters.

·      Career Fire/EMS Chief

·      3 fulltime fire marshals

·      20 career firefighter-EMTs and 20 career paramedics, plus part-time staff

·      6 volunteer chief officers

·      Approximately 70 volunteer firefighters/stipend members of the three companies, plus some 24 administrative/support members.

Upper Merion believes, success starts with a continuous marketing effort to secure additional personnel to perform departmental services. To reach out to join our organization:

Career and Part-time Firefighter-EMTs and Career & volunteer EMTs/Paramedics

https://www.umtownship.org/departments/human-resources/career-opportunities/

Stipend or volunteer positions at the volunteer stations

King of Prussia Volunteer Fire Company

https://www.kpvfc.com/join-kpvfs/

Swedeland Volunteer Fire Company

https://swedelandfire.org/recruiting/

Swedesburg Volunteer Fire Company

https://www.swedesburgfire.com/content/membership/