Hartsville Volunteers Earn 100 Percent State Certification

Between full time jobs, household chores, raising families and all the other myriad tasks and commitments that eat up a regular person's time, every single volunteer firefighter at the Hartsville Fire Co. managed to squeeze at least 250 hours of training into their schedules.

It's a benchmark that allowed the fire company to earn 100 percent certification Pennsylvania State Fire Commissioner Ed Mann, who congratulated the volunteers at Thursday's Board of Supervisors meeting.

"We're accredited by two national agencies to be able to provide certification," said Mann. "This isn't something where I sit in a room with eight or 10 of my friends and we dream up some way to certify firefighters."

The International Fire Service Accreditation Congress and the National Qualifications Standard Board regularly audit the state agency and ensure that the testing and certifications are valid.

It is a rigorous and thorough process to make sure each volunteer meets the standards and deserve the certification. According to Mann, Hartsville is only one of six Bucks County fire departments to achieve 100 percent, and only 35 out of approximately 2,100 departments state-wide have reached a perfect rating.

The Warminster Township Board of Supervisors and State Representative Bernie O'Neill also congratulated the Hartsville firefighters and gave them separate proclamations celebrating their achievement.