Fire Police Member Description

Special fire police officers are members of a dedicated unit within a volunteer fire company that receive particular training to perform certain functions more traditionally performed by law enforcement.  Special fire police are granted full power to control traffic and crowds at the scene of any fire or other emergency as well as other necessary police powers to ensure a safe and controlled environment.  Fire police officers have most of the duties, rights, and privileges of regular officers, except they do not carry weapons.  Nevertheless, disobeying one may carry the same penalty as disobeying a full-time police officer.  Unlike some other states, special fire police officers in Pennsylvania are not required to perform fire suppression or other rescue duties; most fire police have elected to consider fire police work as their primary responsibility within the emergency services community.

Although they are members of the fire company, only local municipalities can grant police authority.  Once you are a member of the fire company, all special fire police officer candidates from East Whiteland are confirmed and sworn to duty by the East Whiteland Township Board of Supervisors or a local District Judge.   While on duty, fire police are considered representatives of their municipality and are subject to the control of the local or state police.  The fire police routinely work closely with the members of the East Whiteland Township and Pa. State Police Departments.

The primary responsibility of fire police is to ensure a safe and unobstructed area for all public safety professionals and emergency vehicles, as well as providing crowd control and limiting access to emergency scenes.  Once this is accomplished, fire police officers may set up detours, perform traffic control and take other steps to protect and assist the general public.

In addition to their duties during emergencies, fire police officers also may be called upon to provide traffic, crowd control and security services during non-emergency events, such as parades, fairs and other special events.

Fire police receive significant specialized training for their appointment, with other training available and strongly encouraged.  All training is free of charge to the member.

Because of the legal implications of the position, all fire police applicants must be at least 18 years of age.