EXETER TWP., Pa. – Exeter Township residents had an opportunity Wednesday night to attend a town hall meeting to hear the details about a proposal to construct a new township emergency services center
About 60 people attended the town hall, but many were members of the fire company and EMS personnel.
The township has already hired a constriction management firm, an architectural firm and an engineering firm.
Representatives of all three were in attendance to answer any questions about the proposal facility to be located at DeMoss and Gibraltar roads.
Township Manager William Heim told the audience the township wants to build the best possible emergency services center.
“We want to create a healthy environment for the staff and the volunteers that serve our community,” Heim said. “We want to improve recruitment and volunteer retention and provide a facility that is environmentally and welcoming to all.”
Christopher Jordan, fire chief of the Exeter Township Volunteer Fire Department, explained that the department is current made up of the Reiffton Station and the Stonersville Station.
Neither station is owned by the township but rather by the social quarters which lease the facilities to the township.
Jordan said the need for the new central location is for health and safety, additional volunteer staffing, better response times and enhanced training opportunities.
“The Exeter Township Volunteer Fire Department covers Exeter Township and Saint Lawrence Borough,” Jordan explained. “It’s about 27 square miles of coverage area — 27,000 residents and currently we have average about 1,500 calls per year.”
Jordan said there are presently about 100 active volunteer members, as well as some career staff.
“Once the new emergency service center opens, we will vacate both facilities,” Jordan said. “The (current) facilities will not be in use as fire stations anymore. It will be a centrally located facility, and everything can fit under one roof.”
While both fire stations suffer due to a lack of space, there are no opportunities for expansion.
“Both stations have no decontamination area and, as we stated, both stations are connected to the social quarters, and the doors going from the social quarters to the engine room area is not secured,” Jordan said.
“If you read about the cancer-causing toxins that firefighters are faced with every day, we have no area to keep our gear clean,” Jordan added. “The area where we do have washers are commingled with our washers and dryers.”
Rob Manns, the principal architect for Exeter Township’s proposed emergency services center, presented plans to residents at a town hall n Jan. 28, 2026.
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Rob Manns, principal architect, said that any given first responder is about nine times more likely to be diagnosed with cancer, and of those diagnosed, he said those have a 14% higher rate in mortality.
“And a lot of times these outdated facilities that were designed by the good old boys back in the 40s and 60s aren’t really accommodating for females joining the fire service or paramedics on the EMS side,” Manns said.
Manns said the proposed facility will be just shy of 30,000 square feet and will include seven apparatus bays as well as an EMS support area. The facility would also provide training spaces, bunk rooms, decontamination areas, gear space, office space, social space, firefighter space and a public area.
The total cost for the facility is estimated to be $19.7 million, but with contingencies and inflation, the cost could rise to $26.6 million.
Heim said the township has taken bonds out to pay for the project, but funding is still being sought from state grants and other avenues.
Heim said that assuming $20 million is funded only through bonds, the township would have to add 1.08 mills to the current property tax.
With the assessed value of an average home being $115,000, Heim said the cost would translate to $124 per year or $10 or $11 per month.
Property owners currently pay 4.93 mills, or $4.93 for each $1,000 of assessed property value.
While the township provided time for public comment, only one resident spoke, saying she supports the project if it can prevent firefighters from suffering and dying from cancer.
The township expects to bid the project in the late fall and begin construction in February 2027. The project is anticipated to be complete in the summer of 2028.