Five Things to Know About the Lower Macungie Fire Department

When it comes to fighting fires and handling emergencies, there are stats the Lower Macungie Fire Department keeps track of that most of us don't really think about.

For example, Chief David Nosal predicted that when the LMFD expanded its response area to include more of the Route 100 corridor, he believed calls would number around 500 for the year. There were 496 of those calls, he said, indicating how well he knows his department.

Other stats include:

1. Sixty-two calls were mutual aid to neighbors in Allentown, Upper Macungie, Salisbury and South Whitehall townships and Emmaus, Alburtis and Macungie. Help was received from them 90 times.

2. The average fire call to LMFD includes a response from 14 of the department's firefighters each time. "That's phenomenal for volunteer firefighters," Nosal said. There are about 40 volunteer firefighters on LMFD's roster.

3. The average response time from the time a pager goes off to "out the door" is 5 minutes and 15 seconds, he said.

4. The busiest day of the week for fires is Sunday, and the busiest time of day is 6 p.m.

5. Rescues and extrications went up over 100 percent, Nosal said. A fair amout were water related. Wire-related rescues jumped went from 14 to 43. He attribued both increases to the two big storms last year.

And a few more things to know:

• LMFD is looking into purchasing small pumper that would allow it to get to places it can't with a larger truck. It would cost $275,000. No decision has been made yet.
• 2013 is the year LMFD is scheduled to replace its command unit, the vehicle the chief uses. It will cost $85,000.
• 2016 is the year LMFD is scheduled to replace the older engine housed at the Brandywine Station. It will cost $650,000.
• 2018 is the year LMFD is scheduled to replace the department's aerial truck. It will cost $1 million. The township paid for the truck currently in use, and Nosal said the department will ask the township in 2016 to pay for the new one. The two-years-early committment is necessary, Nosal said, because an aerial truck takes a year to build on paper and another year physically to build.

"When we look at these things, it's because growth is part of the future," Nosal said.