The McKeesport Fire Department, officially the McKeesport Bureau of Fire, provides fire protection, all-hazards emergency response, and fire safety education to the City of McKeesport.
Organization
The executive of the McKeesport Fire Department is the fire chief, who is appointed by the mayor. The current fire chief is Jeffrey Tomovcsik, appointed in July 2015. The department consists of four platoons, each comprising one deputy chief, one captain and two or three firefighters, as well as sixteen part-time firefighters and the city electrician. Each platoon is on duty for a 24‐hour period, followed by 72 hours off duty. This is supplemented by four part‐time personnel each shift working 12- or 24‐hour periods.
Facilities
Station 1
This facility is located within the McKeesport Public Safety Building on Lyle Boulevard in downtown McKeesport and serves as the administrative headquarters.
Truck 190 - 2017 Spartan Gladiator/4-Guys/RK
Chief 190 - 2022 Ford Explorer Chief's vehicle
Command 190 - 2022 Ford F-250
Station 2
This facility is located on Eden Park Boulevard in Renziehausen Park and serves as the home of the department's reserve apparatus.
Engine 190-1 2016 - Spartan MetroStar/4-Guys Pumper
Engine 190-2 (Reserve) - 2009 Seagrave Pumper
Truck 190-2 (Reserve) - 2001 HME SMEAL 105' (ex-Butler Twp.) Quint
Safety Demonstration Trailer
River rescue
The department provides river rescue services in conjunction with the McKeesport Police Department, with medical support from the McKeesport Ambulance Rescue Service. The department also contributes resources to the Allegheny County Swiftwater/Flood Response Team and, under agreement with the United States Coast Guard, McKeesport River Rescue responds to incidents along the Youghiogheny River and along the Monongahela River between the locks and dams at Elizabeth and Braddock.
The department operates a 24-foot Firehawk boat with firefighting capabilities. This was built by Harbor Guard Boats in 2008 through a Department of Justice grant and is operated jointly with the police department. This replaced converted pleasure craft previously used by the department.
History
1873-1891
The Eagle Volunteer Fire Company was established in the then Borough of McKeesport in 1873. On October 4, 1877, McKeesport suffered a major fire when the Enterprise Foundry and Car Shop at Fifth Avenue and Market Street caught alight. Rapid spread resulted in damage to 32 buildings. The first organized department was created by the borough in 1885 by hiring one man responsible for maintaining a hose reel and a hook and ladder. The first officially recorded fire occurred on December 9, 1887, at the City Flour Mill on Jerome Street and caused an estimated $60,000 in damage.
1891-2000
The department expanded greatly following McKeesport's incorporation as a city in 1891. In 1892 two fire stations were built at a combined cost of $86,000 and in 1893 the Central Fire Station was constructed on Market Street and Fourth Avenue. In 1914, the first motor vehicle was placed in service at the Central Fire Station and in 1919, three pumpers were purchased and deployed to Central Station and Stations #2 and #3, as well as a 65 ft. aerial ladder to the Central Station and a ladder truck to Station #3. The same year, the system of firefighters being on duty for twenty-four hours a day for ten days, with a single rest day, was replaced with a two platoon system where firefighters worked 7 days a week, and on Sundays worked 24 hours straight when they changed from day to night shifts. On March 10, 1938, firefighters were given a day off each week by a change in state law and 1951 the system was completely overhauled as firefighters were put on eight hour shifts.
Between 1950 and the mid-1960s the majority of the original stations were demolished as part of the city's redevelopment strategy.