Bensalem Township Fire Rescue shared a U.S. Treasury check for $4 million this week, money the department says will fund construction of a combination fire station meant to serve both career and volunteer firefighters. The check, dated October 19 and made payable to the Township of Bensalem, lists its purpose as the Bensalem Township DPS Fire Station and carries the name of Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick.
A Years-Long Push Finally Shows Up in Dollars
The funding traces back to a February announcement in which Fitzpatrick said he had secured more than $27.5 million in federal funding for 11 community-driven projects across Pennsylvania's First Congressional District, according to Bucks Independence. Within that package, the outlet reported the Bensalem project would consolidate two outdated volunteer fire stations into a single, modern, centrally located facility serving both the Bensalem Volunteer Fire Department and township career firefighters. The same report described the plan as replacing nearly 50-year-old infrastructure with a township-owned, state-of-the-art facility.
Per that February report, the new building would house fire and rescue vehicles, EMS units, marine response equipment and operational space, folding several emergency functions under one roof. The outlet also said the station is intended to reduce response times, expand coverage and improve emergency access across the township, though the report did not quantify those expected improvements. In a social media post shared Monday, the Bensalem Township Fire Rescue Department called the development “HUGE NEWS FOR BENSALEM!”
A Funding Figure That Doesn't Quite Match
There is a wrinkle in the numbers. While the February announcement and this week's Treasury check both cite $4 million, a Senate request listing for fiscal year 2027 lists the Bensalem Township DPS Fire Station at $6 million, with Bensalem Township as recipient and Bucks County, Pennsylvania as the location, according to a posting from Senate Appropriations. It is not clear from available records whether the $4 million and $6 million figures represent different stages of the same project or separate funding actions, and that discrepancy has not been resolved.
Why Six Volunteer Companies Became One
The new station is tied to a broader reorganization of Bensalem's volunteer firefighting corps. Six independent volunteer fire companies in Bensalem Township, covering the Trevose, Cornwells, Eddington, Union, Newport and Nottingham stations, consolidated into a single company now known as the Bensalem Volunteer Fire Department, as reported by 6abc. Bensalem commissioners gave their unanimous approval to the consolidation, and the township's full-time paid firefighters were not affected by the reorganization, the station noted.
Officials pointed to a shrinking volunteer pipeline as the driving force behind combining the companies. “The decline of personnel within each of our organizations has certainly been our biggest challenge,” an official told 6abc. The same report put the scale of that decline in statewide context: Pennsylvania had more than 300,000 volunteer firefighters in the 1970s, compared with about 30,000 today. Bensalem's volunteer department has said it officially launched in June 2024 after several years of planning, according to the township's own description on its website.
With the consolidation already in place and federal dollars now attached to a physical facility, Bensalem's fire service is moving toward a single combination station built to support both its career staff and its newly unified volunteer ranks. Details on construction timelines, the final site and design have not been made public.
