SUNBURY — The new Emergency Medical Services Station 11 in Berkshire Township near U.S. Route 36-37 and Interstate 71 is now operating with a full staff as of Saturday.
Delaware County EMS shares the building with Berkshire Township, Sunbury, Trenton Township, and Galena Fire District, making it a joint service building.
The BSTG Fire District has already been operating out of the newly-built station, but the EMS team, which now has six new staff members, did not officially start until Saturday.
The roughly $7 million joint station was a long-time coming, as the two entities had talked about a joint building since 2020.
“Around two years ago, we were able to come back to this concept and really get serious about moving forward together and putting on this joint station. So that’s what we did: we teamed up with the fire district,” EMS Director Jeff Fishel said.
It comes in response to a growing population, which means a growing demand for EMS services.
Fishel said the station was built with future growth in mind. It has the capacity to hold another ambulance, and the three-person staff needed to man it, too.
A win for taxpayers
Fishel said the joint department is a win for the fire district and EMS team, but most importantly, the taxpayers who funded the station.
“It wasn’t two different departments both building their own stations at the point, it was two coming together to share the cost of a building and provide services, great services, but at a lower cost,” he said.
Sales tax supports the county EMS organization and a 2024 bond issue supports the BSTG fire district’s operation out of the station.
Delaware County EMS also has joint stations in Berlin Township and at the Porter Kingston Fire Department, but this new one is unique because the two agency staff are living in the same area.
“They already got along great they just weren’t in the same building,” Fishel said. “And then what they did was they obviously kept their initial station, and we kept our our station, so this one is just an additional station that we that we did as a joint venture. So they increased staffing and we increased staffing as well.”
Delaware County EMS is also designing a replacement station for Station 3 in Lewis Center.
“We are building a brand new Station 3, and the Sheriff will have a substation out of it and it’ll also be a back-up 911 center,” Fishel said.
“That station will also allow for future growth of the department and give us much-needed space as well.”
The team will break ground on Station 3 later this year.
