Goodwill Fire Company of Bally, PA

          The department provides fire coverage for the borough of Bally, and portions of Washington, Hereford, District Townships, Upper Hanover, Douglass (Montg), and Pike Townships. It additionally supplies rescue coverage for all or a portion of those municipalities plus the Borough of Bechtelsville and the remaining portions of Washington, Hereford and District Townships. Its 25 firefighters and 5 fire-police respond to almost 200 incidents each year.

          The company, in operation since 1924, operates six vehicles: a 1995 HME Pumper; a 2002 Four Guys 3000 Gallon Tanker-Pumper; a 2007 Freightliner/ Saulsbury Rescue Truck; a 1977 Chevy 1200 gallon Stainless Steel Tanker; a 1973 Jeep Brush Truck; and a 1998 Dodge Utility Van. The '77 tanker and the '73 Jeep were custom modified by fire department members.

        The 2007 Freightliner is a new cab and chassis mounted on the of our 1986 Saulsbury Rescue Truck. That truck responds to more calls that any of the other trucks owned by the company and has served the department well but twenty years of calls took its toll and the refurbished truck is a great addition.

        A new rescue vehicle costs more than $325,000, but when we mounted the body of the old one onto the new Freightliner chassis for a cost of less than $175,000, the savings to the community was $150,000 over the cost of a new rescue truck.