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A bastion of public safety reached a milestone today as the Loyalsock Volunteer Fire Company celebrates its 100th anniversary.

It was early 1925 when a fire on Miller Lane demonstrated the urgent need for fire protection in Loyalsock Township,” according to a written history on the company, penned by Susan Swank-Caschera, president, fire inspector and public information officer.

Forty-six residents made up the company, with Walter R. Belles elected as its inaugural fire chief.

The company’s first fire truck, donated by a charter member, was a simple car that carried a chemical tank filled with water, Swank-Caschera wrote.

Dedicated on May 30, 1928, the company’s first firehouse was built on land donated by The Faxon Land Company. The current site was constructed in 1957, with additional construction and additions completed in 2003.

The Charter for Loyalsock Volunteer Fire Company #1 was granted on Oct. 27, 1927 and included 27 members as subscribers. Their motto, which continues to this day, was “neighbors helping neighbors.”

By March 1950, the Saturday Evening Post recognized the fire company as being typical of the best of volunteer fire companies in the United States.

On Jan. 25, 1967, the company would battle its biggest blaze to date when the former location of Faxon Bowling Lanes, the current site of Bruster’s Ice Cream, went up in flames, according to William “Speedy” Miller, vice-president and longest serving member of the company.

The prominence of that fire was overtaken on May 12, 1979, when the company would work diligently to knock down a warehouse inferno, where Commerce Park currently sits, Miller said.

Over the years, several new services have been added, including fire police in 1954 and fire inspection in 1979.

“Current members also specialize in technical rope rescue, water and ice rescues, confined space rescue and rapid intervention team, in which designated firefighters respond to comrades in trouble during a fire,” Swank-Caschera said in her history write-up.

The fire company has taken part in several high profile events such as controlling all intersections throughout the township during the annual 9-11 Motorcycle Ride and assisting federal agencies during former President George W. Bush’s visit to the Little League World Series in 2001.

“They used our firehouse as a safe house if he had to get out,” Miller said.

“It’s a tremendous amount of planning, like when Mr. Pence came in,” Caschera said.

“The plans and the coordination go very deep. There’s a lot of teamwork involved between all the disciplines, having EMS units in the area, staged and available fire units, whether it’s a police cruiser or a tactical team or just management of all those entities, including the Secret Service, FBI or the ATF,” he explained.

In 2006, the company’s Incident Management Unit joined the North Central Counter Terrorism Task Force.

“This asset responds throughout the region allowing command staff shelter and equipment needed to coordinate hazardous responses from hostage situations, gas well fires, natural and man-made disasters, to large scale events which carry potential risks to the area,” Swank-Caschera explained in her piece.

“We don’t do anything alone anymore. We help city police, state police or school police if they need it,” Caschera said.

“In the same aspect, anything we need, they’re right there to back us up, whether it’s an ambulance call or motor vehicle accident, everybody’s managing it and working together,” he said.

The Susquehanna Mutual Aid Response Team (SMART) was founded in 2022.

The team includes several paid positions that respond to calls while many of the volunteers are working their day jobs.

Last year, SMART responded to 877 calls, Swank-Caschera’s history said.

With a focus on continuing to provide these essential services, the company has recently partnered with the township to charter the Rolling Asset Foundation, which aims to help with the costs of replacing aging equipment.

Among those targeted for replacement are a tower at a cost of $1.8 million for a tower and a $700,000 new engine.

“There is a plan to replace all of our apparatus over a 20 year period of time, because some of our fire trucks are approaching 30 years old,” Swank-Caschera said.

The foundation will see the township match the fire company’s $50,000 yearly allocation towards the upgrades.

In 2024, members of the Loyalsock Township Volunteer Company answered 775 fire or rescue calls, provided emergency medical care 3,885 times, Swank-Caschera said in her typed history.

With such a workload, the company continues to look for anyone interested in joining their historic firefighting force.

“At one point in time, it was preferred that you were coming with training. Today, we help you get all your fire training and everything, so that it’s not something that you have to worry about coming in the door,” Caschera stressed.

Another way the company has responded to its increasing need for coverage is through its college student live in initiative.

The second floor of the firehouse is utilized by college students who stay at the complex and assist with the company’s activities in exchange for a place to live.

“The neat thing is all these students that are coming into the local colleges volunteer at home, so they already have training to some degree,” Chief Richard Caschera Jr. said.

“They can come here and we can give them a room, so they don’t have the cost of housing, and in turn, you continue to utilize their training here, helping our community,” he said.

“They absolutely love it, because then they have a remote family. It’s really a second home and a support system,” the chief said.

Asked how he feels looking back at the company’s humble beginnings, one word comes to Caschera’s mind.

“I have a lot of pride knowing that, as neighbors helping neighbors, we continue with our growth to be able to support all the community needs,” the chief said.

“That pride comes with the satisfaction to know that we continue to do our job and do it well, and will continue to do our job well,” Caschera said, referring to the firefighter community as a family.

“Another thing is, when you go out on a call, people will come back and thank you for what you did. Everybody just thanks you so much for being able to come and help them,” Caschera said.