East Manchester Township supervisors have set in motion a plan to strip Eagle Fire Company No. 1 of its status as an official emergency-services provider, with the withdrawal set to take effect January 1, 2027. The move has already drawn a public rebuke from Mount Wolf Borough, where Eagle Fire has been part of the community for more than a century.
A Unanimous Vote and a 45-Day Clock
According to York Daily Record, East Manchester Township supervisors voted unanimously to have their solicitor draft a resolution ending Mount Wolf Fire Company's designation as a fire-protection provider, with the board set to discuss and consider action on that resolution at its November 10 meeting. The township manager will notify the two boroughs and the fire department of the township's intent, the outlet reports. Per Citizen Portal, that resolution is explicitly designed to serve as the mandatory 45-day notice required under an intergovernmental agreement dated July 9, 2013 — a framework that has governed fire protection in the township for more than 13 years.
If the resolution is approved, East Manchester would designate Union Fire Company No. 1 in Manchester as its sole fire department, the York Daily Record reports. That would formalize a dispatch arrangement already in place: Union Fire Company has been sent to all emergency calls in the township for the past four years, a protocol the township has kept in place even as Eagle Fire has continued to receive equal municipal funding alongside Union.
The Numbers Behind the Dispute
Supervisors' frustration centers on Eagle Fire's finances. The department is projected to bring in $225,500 in revenue in 2027 but faces a projected deficit of more than $114,000 that year, and it is already operating in the red this year, per the station's report. Union Fire Company, by contrast, has a balanced budget, the outlet notes. Supervisor David L. Naylor said it is unfair to township taxpayers to bail out a borough fire company, and said the township's decision is intended to prioritize citizens' safety and make financial sense.
Response reliability has also factored into the debate. Eagle Fire has an engine response failure rate of about 6 percent, while Union Fire Company's failure rate is zero percent, the same account indicates. Supervisors spent more than 30 minutes at their meeting discussing future fire services and questioning Union Fire Chief Joe Stevens, and separately denied Eagle Fire Company's monetary request for reporting software. The board did approve $72,243.44 for the volunteer firefighters' relief association, split evenly between the two departments in 2026, by a 2-1 vote, with Supervisor Dean Kohr voting against it. Eagle Fire Company was not reached for comment despite attempts to contact it, the York Daily Record reports.
The financial friction is not new. At the township's December 9, 2025 board meeting, Eagle Fire Company formally requested $125,000 from East Manchester to reimburse the department for acquiring property at 42 South Second Street in Mount Wolf Borough, according to township meeting records. Supervisors had already flagged rising public safety costs in November 2025 financial guide planning, noting that replacing a single modern fire engine now costs roughly $1.5 million — a figure underscoring why building capital reserves has become a priority for the township.
Mount Wolf's Mayor Responds
A statement signed by Mount Wolf Borough Mayor Josh Parish supported Eagle Fire Company following the township's announced plan and requested that the borough solicitor review potential emergency response and mutual-aid impacts, according to Mount Wolf Borough. The statement notes that Eagle Fire has served the region for 113 years and was founded in 1913. It also argues that municipal boundaries do not restrict fire dynamics, raising questions about how a withdrawal of recognition could ripple through regional mutual-aid and dispatch arrangements.
Calls have been routed to Union Fire Company for several years. York Daily Record reports that Mount Wolf and Union volunteer fire companies are not interested in merging, and Naylor said a forced consolidation never works. York County fire departments do provide mutual aid on emergency calls, a backstop that remains in place regardless of how the township's formal designation shakes out.
Fire-Service Planning
Under Section 1553 of Pennsylvania's Second Class Township Code, boards of supervisors are legally obligated to ensure fire and emergency medical services are provided within their boundaries by whatever administrative and financial means the township deems appropriate. Second-class townships are not required to run their own fire departments, but they must designate and oversee authorized providers — the legal basis East Manchester supervisors are relying on as they move to drop Eagle Fire.
The township's decision follows a joint Fire Services Study that the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development conducted at no cost, reviewed by the Board of Supervisors at its July 14, 2026 meeting to evaluate fire protection delivery and sustainability across East Manchester Township, Manchester Borough, and Mount Wolf Borough. A Hoodline report covered York County's fire-service review. York County has been collecting comparable information from all 16 county fire departments, including service, staffing, equipment, call-volume, and needs data, to help shape a long-term countywide fire protection strategy.
East Manchester Township's volunteer-services tax provisions include real-estate refunds and earned-income rebates. Whether those provisions, or any other step short of a full designation change, could address the underlying staffing and funding gaps remains part of the broader conversation supervisors are set to continue at their November 10 meeting.
