Coronavirus forces 2 fire departments for Allegheny Township to shut down

ALLEGHENY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The fire trucks will remain in-house for the time being in Allegheny Township.

The two stations that make up the Allegheny township Fire Department are out of service indefinitely after a member tested positive for coronavirus and potentially exposed as many as 45 people after the department held a gathering on the Fourth of July.

Township manager Greg Primm tells Channel 11 that members from both departments got together at Fire Station No. 1 Saturday.

Four Allegheny Township police officers are also self quarantining because of possible exposure from being out on emergency calls with the firefighter.

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Primm said the county provided guidance from the CDC and Department of Health.

“We think people feel you either overreact or under react, there’s not a lot of middle ground there; being that we’re public safety we feel following the county’s guidance on this out of an abundance of caution is the only way to address it,” Primm said.

In the meantime, the closest surrounding departments like Oklahoma Borough, Lower Burrell and Vandergrift are handling emergency calls for Allegheny Township.

“We notified our neighboring departments who are answering our phone calls so there’s no threat to public safety.. the calls will all be answered by our neighboring departments which we certainly appreciate,” Primm said.

Primm said the fire department will be out of service for at least 72 hours, but it could be longer.

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