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Pond Hill-Lily Lake Fire Department has restarted their monthly drill program! These drills will be aimed at improving our members’ ability to operate our apparatus, tools, and to greatly improve our teamwork on the fire scene. The goal is to have a drill on the last Saturday of every month at 2pm, but it may be adjusted to fit events and holidays in, check our events list for the next drill! The drills themselves will be based on both weather and member turnout. If it is bad weather or simply a low turnout day, then gear checks and simple drills may be done vs a high turnout day that includes pumping and water movement drills. Multiple department based drills will also be factored in to increase our ability to work with neighboring companies. Everyone is welcome to ours drills, even members form neighboring companies.

If you look at the members of Pond Hill-Lily Lake Fire Company you may see a group of individuals that are just trying to get by, however, this is far from the truth. An aging fire station, a list of needed supplies that can’t even fit on a single piece of paper, and one of the smallest groups of members in the area; the challenges for PHLL’s firefighters seem endless. However, when you ask one of them how life at the station is going you get a different attitude, a mindset that you do not see much of anymore. You get a response that makes you feel like their station is brand new and their numbers are endless. No member seems to complain about the old equipment, but instead they look forward to the new gear their next grant will get them. Their members are happy to work for what they have and seem willing to work past all the issues. Why is this? This is caused by a sense of brotherhood in the firefighter life. Most of these members could easily blame the economy or funding, but instead they mention how dropping out would hurt the members who stay around. Their trucks are all ready to go aid someone in their time of need and their spirits are high. And even with most of them working over 40 hour weeks to support their families, they will still be there when some of the worst situations imaginable happen. Hopes remain high as members of PHLL explain how the past two state level grants have been used to nearly triple their ability to fight a fire and how future grants are already preplanned to modernize all of their fire trucks. With the additional gaming grant funding out there, the members are very hopeful they can work with their township to replace the aging station. Membership is always a necessity and this group of a few remaining fire fighters is always willing to accept new members into the firefighter life. In 1977, there were 300,000 volunteer firefighters in PA. Today, the number is closer to 50,000. The day may come when someone dials 911 and no one shows up, but Pond Hill’s firefighters are aiming to prevent that situation for their community.

The dry hydrant at Lily Lake (the one in the parking lot, not the one on the road) is currently unusable during a fire scene! The parts are in to repair it, but it must be done in warmer weather and therefore is on hold. The hydrant currently leaks air into the system and causes suction loss. It can be used to fill a truck directly off of it (slowly), but can not support multiple truck operations. It is advised to use the secondary hydrant in the area or simply use the lake itself until repairs can be made. Please be aware! If you do use the boat launch itself to get water, be aware not to trap any bystanders on the lake.

Pond Hill-Lily Lake Fire Department has been approved for $12,161.20 from the PA state grant! This money will be going towards new hose nozzles and a few miscellaneous equipment expenses. Some of the money is also being set aside for truck payments so our department can stay ahead of the finical game.

Pond Hill-Lily Lake Volunteer Fire Department will be having a brush fire based in-house drill on Saturday March 29th. This drill will be geared towards preparing our members for the upcoming brush fire season. This is also a good time to note that residents should watch what they are burning and always have a water source ready to put out any fire that begins to spread away from the source. Please do not burn anything outside during a very dry, windy day. This drill is aimed towards improving, or in some cases simply reminding, our members ability to fight brush fires. Brush fires need skills and training in not only pump operations, but other equipment skills such as chain saws, portable water tanks, and even generators for night time operations. Fire line tactics and off-road water movement tactics will also be touched on. This will also be our department's first official drill since starting our training program back up!!! If bad weather or other unforeseen event were to take place to prevent us from doing an outside based drill, we will be substituting an air pack drill in it's place.