About BTVFC

The Mission of Bethlehem Township Volunteer Fire Company is to protect the life and property of the residents of Bethlehem Township and surrounding communities, by providing highly trained and motivated emergency personnel with the finest equipment available. Our EMS stations serve Bethlehem Township, Lower Nazareth and Bath.

History of BTVFC

The Bethlehem Township Volunteer Fire Company was formed in 1946 by a group of Civil Defense wardens, a volunteer group established for civil protection. This group wanted to provide fire protection to residents of the Township. The group first met at the Wilson school at 2nd & Linden Streets in the Miller Heights section of Bethlehem Township.

The founders successfully met the many challenges faced in the early years of the company, addressing issues such as where to locate the station, how to raise the funds necessary to support the company, and how to obtain the first fire truck.

In 1949, the property was purchased, and a station was erected at 1919 8th St. An important function of the fire department in the early days was the delivery of water to the residents to fill their cisterns.

The Bethlehem Township Volunteers were pioneers. In 1956, after some of the firemen took the initiative to learn first aid, the company began to provide ambulance service. The men wore white coveralls when responding on the ambulance. At that time women were not allowed to serve. Early records show the ambulance responded to a handful of calls per month in the early days.

The company, with the assistance of the Township, purchased two Mack fire trucks in the early  1960’s. One truck was a pumper (1962 Mack B-85); the other was a rescue truck (1964 Mack B-42). These trucks served the department and the residents of the Township for many years. The pumper was retired in the late 1980’s and the rescue truck served until 2008.

Another first occurred in the mid -1970’s. Bethlehem Township Volunteer Fire Company became the first paramedic service in Northampton County. The residents of the Township now had the finest in emergency care available before they arrived at the hospital. In addition to oxygen and other basic items, the ambulance now carried advanced equipment, including medications, a heart defibrillator, and radios that allowed the paramedics to speak directly to the emergency room physician. The fire/rescue aspect of the company added the “jaws of life” to the trucks during this time frame as well. Now, victims of car accidents that were trapped could be rescued from the car faster than they could be using hand tools. The department was providing state-of-the-art emergency services to the community.

The  1980’s continued to show growth for the organization. The ambulance service expanded with the start of the Medic I project. The project involved the joining of forces by numerous agencies in Northampton County. The Chevy Suburban vehicle was housed at Bethlehem Township Volunteer Fire Company, but the staffing came from each of the agencies involved. The original agencies involved were Allen Twp, East Allen Twp, Bath, Moore Twp, Hecktown, Hanover, Suburban, Williams Twp, Dewey, Se-Wy-Co. The rescue truck was sent out for refurbishment; little did anyone know it would be more than two years before it returned to service. The vendor that was chosen to refurb the vehicle experienced a fire after the rescue truck was at their location. Fortunately, the truck was not at the vendor’s location at the time of the fire. Every Monday night for more than two years we would hear Rescue 228 reported out of service. A committee was started to begin the process of specifying a new pumper for the company. In  1989  we placed the new pumper (1989 Mack CF) in service. This ended the days of riding on the tailboard of the trucks to the call.

The station number changed from 225 to 17 in the  1990’s as we joined the remainder of the county in using four digits to identify apparatus. The “mini” (1975 Dodge) was replaced in  1996  with a new four-man cab truck that had fire and rescue capabilities. The rescue truck that was purchased in the 1960’s was getting tired. Another committee was appointed to specify a new rescue truck. The new rescue truck 1741 (1999 Freightliner) was placed into service in  1999. The old rescue truck became a specialty truck used for trench rescue.

The EMS side also saw new vehicles purchased during this decade. We went from the traditional ambulance to a new International chassis. The ambulances were now trucks and had an air-ride suspension. The volume of ambulance calls forced the company to employ EMS staff. We could no longer rely on an all-volunteer ambulance crew.

The new century brought some of the old and some new challenges to the organization. The vehicle fleet stabilized, membership was also fairly stable. We outgrew the old station, and it was decided to build a new station. The best location to build the station was at 1919 8th St, our home since 1949. For one year we were stationed at the Coolidge Building at 5th & Orth Sts, the former Municipal building.

No one was prepared for the events of September 11,  2001, when the USA was attacked by terrorists on our own soil. The members of Bethlehem Township Volunteer Fire Company wanted to help just as everyone across the nation wanted to help. Seventeen members responded to New York City the afternoon of September 11, 2001. Our members were staged at Fort Lee High School in New Jersey for the night, but they were sent to ground zero on the morning of September 12th. Although our services were not utilized in New York, our team was proud to be there to offer aid. The fire company had never seen the type of widespread support seen during the months following September 11th.

Another major disaster occurred in  2005  when a hurricane named Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. One of our ambulances was deployed to help in the New Orleans region as part of the strike team from the Eastern PA EMS Council.

Our services continue to expand, as does the Township. For this reason, we purchased the house and property next door to the station to allow for expansion. January 1,  2011,  we moved into the new wing of the station. This new wing will allow us to grow for many years to come. We made it a classic fire station by adding a pole from the second floor to the truck bay. Our fleet has grown over the years and now includes two pumpers, a heavy rescue, a brush/rescue truck, two pick-up trucks that can tow the boat, four-wheeler and/or gator, a command vehicle and an operations vehicle. We also have six advanced life support ambulances and the Medic 1 truck. The building has a training room, communications room, sleeping quarters, office space and meeting rooms.

From the vision of the Civil Defense Wardens to the expanded multifaceted (organization) fire company today, we are the Bethlehem Township Volunteer Fire Company.