Mary Gay Scanlon: “In Pennsylvania, volunteer fire departments have long played a central role in the life of our towns and boroughs. In…”

“In Pennsylvania, volunteer fire departments have long played a central role in the life of our towns and boroughs. In recent years, changing demographics and funding issues have seriously impacted the volunteer fire company tradition. However, it has also had one benefit of spurring recruitment of first responders from nontraditional quarters. I want to take a minute to acknowledge the history made by two volunteers at the South Media Fire Company just last week. When an emergency call from a local middle school came in at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, Ellen Yarborough, a schoolteacher, and Dora Giannakarios Preston, a local business woman, put their day jobs on hold to answer the call, unaware that they were making history. This was the first time in the 100-year history of the firehouse that an all-female crew had handled an emergency call. To Ellen, Dora, the South Media Fire Company, and all of our volunteer firefighters, thank you for your service and for answering the call of duty to keep us safe. ____________________”