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Tioga County Firemen's Association

2019 Meeting Schedule

  • January 8th - Station 15 (Morris)
  • March 12th - Station 4 (Blossburg)
  • May 14th - Station 10 (Galeton)
  • July 9th - Station 12 (Millerton)
  • September 10th - Station 9 (Liberty)
  • November 12th - Station 1 (Wellsboro)
  • December 10th - Station 11 (Middlebury)

Meetings commence at 7:00pm 

 

2019 TCFA Leadership

  • President - Mr. Ben Phelps
  • 1st Vice-President - Mr. John Andrus
  • 2nd Vice-President - Mr. Doug Champaign
  • Secretary - Mrs. Rose O'Conners
  • Treasurer - Mr. Andrew O'Conners
  • Trustees
    • Mr. James Shepard
    • Others to be listed
  • Fire Coordinators
    • Fire Coordinator 1 - Mr. Kevin Kulish

 

Meeting Minutes

 

History of the TCFA

            The seed from which the Tioga County Firemen’s Association grew, was planted on May 4, 1951 when John E. Dugan, then Assistant Chief of Wellsboro Fire Department, at a regular meeting of the Wellsboro Fire Department, said he thought a Tioga County Firemen’s organization should be formed to work out better mutual aid plans and bring the County fire departments closer together.

            On a motion by Clifford Dartt, seconded by Robert L. Spencer, a committee of line officers of Wellsboro Fire Department was appointed to carry out the idea as outlined, and formed a county firemen’s organization.

            On June 1, 1951, at a meeting of the Wellsboro Fire Department, it was reported by Chairman John E. Dugan of the committee to form a Tioga County Firemen’s Association that several fire companies, including Mansfield and Elkland had agreed to attend a meeting on June 8, to form such an association and all Wellsboro Firemen were asked to attend.

            On July 6, 1951, John E. Dugan reported 10 of the 14 fire departments in the county had joined the Tioga County Firemen’s Association, and the next meeting would be held on July 10, 1951. The purpose of the Firemen’s Association was to form a better mutual aid program and secure two-way radio communications for all fire departments in the county.

            The first permanent officers of the new association were elected on July 10, 1951, when nine of the ten member departments were represented. The officers were:

  • President – John E. Dugan, Wellsboro
  • Vice-President – George Johnson, Elkland Leather Fire Brigade of Elkland
  • Secretary – William Hunt, Tioga
  • Treasurer – Frank Bostner, Elkland

Each department was to be represented by two delegates and dues were $5.00 (equivalent of $47 today) per year.

            Even as early as the second meeting, Committees reported on the project of obtaining two-way radio communication for all fire departments in the County, and stated that individual fire departments were ready to buy mobile units as soon as a means of financing the base station had been worked out.

            All member companies agreed to cooperate in a plan to make foam equipment available to fight flammable liquid fires anywhere in the County. Also, a State-sponsored fire school for all County firemen began in September 1951. Early plans called for radio-activated fire sirens to speed up mutual aid dispatches and to permit two or more fire companies to answer every rural alarm.

            Two-way radios were demonstrated at a meeting in 1951 by Motorola. Each department would be asked to contribute $125.00 (equivalent of $1,183.00 today) each towards the base station and mobile units would cost $550.00 (equivalent of $5,204.00 today) each.

            The first members of the Association were (alphabetically):

  • Blossburg
  • Corning Glass Works Brigade
  • Daggett
  • Elkland
  • Elkland Leather Brigade
  • Liberty
  • Mansfield
  • Tioga
  • Wellsboro
  • Westfield



Lawrenceville and Morris joined a few months later.

            The second year officers were:

  • President – Frank Sawyer, Liberty
  • 1st Vice-President – William Howe, Tioga
  • 2nd Vice-President – John E. Dugan, Wellsboro
  • 3rd Vice-President – William Kendall, Elkland
  • Secretary – William Hunt, Tioga
  • Treasurer – Frank Bostner, Elkland



             The County of Tioga, through action by the County Commissioners, purchased a new 250 watt base radio station, a 200ft tower (located on the Rawson property on “Dutch Hill” at 1,934ft ground elevation), radio frequency 33.78Mhz, a radio receiver and tone-activated unit for each member department to sound their fire siren, and a 30 watt two-way mobile radio for one lead engine in each of the County’s fire departments.

            The original remote control base radio points were at the Wellsboro Fire Station (“Wellsboro Red”). Assistant Chief John E. Dugan’s residence (“Wellsboro Blue”), and the Wellsboro Hospital switchboard (“Wellsboro White”). From this original purchase in 1955 until the creation of the Tioga County Communications Center in 1979, all Tioga County fire departments were dispatched for mutual aid from Tioga County Fire Coordinator John E. Dugan’s home in Wellsboro.

            The new Tioga County Communications Center began operations on April 1, 1979 in the Tioga County Courthouse in Wellsboro with paid full-time dispatchers, funded by the County.

            One of the most progressive moves ever made by the Tioga County Firemen’s Association was to standardize all fire hose threads in Tioga County by 1959.

            The Tioga County Firemen’s Association is still active today.

 

More historical information on individual fire companies can be found at the Tri-Counties Historical Website.