Cressona, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
An all-volunteer fire company, kept running by the whole town.
In Cressona, the fire calls are answered by neighbors who volunteer their nights and weekends. What keeps the trucks rolling is not a tax line. It is a table: the dinners, raffles, and block shoots the whole town shows up for.
Serving Cressona and the surrounding area since 1899.
Figures drawn from public fire-service records.
A design-concept emblem by Frontline Web Designs. Not the company's official badge.
How the town keeps its fire company running.
One supper at a time. These are the events neighbors show up for year after year. Pick one to see what it is and where the money goes.
Mother's Day Dinner
Every May
The company's best-known night. Neighbors pack the hall so mothers across town get the evening off from cooking, a supper WNEP has featured as the fundraiser that "gives moms the night off."
Where it goes: the general fund that fuels the trucks and replaces gear as it wears out.
Every plate served and every ticket sold is a neighbor keeping the trucks ready for the next call.
Neighbors on the roster.
Cressona Fire Company No. 1 is all volunteer. Around twenty-five firefighters answer the calls, backed by roughly twenty support members who cook, drive, sell tickets, and keep the doors open. No one on the roster is paid.
The company has looked after Cressona and the surrounding area since 1899. The names on the roster change over the years. The commitment does not: the same people who serve the plates on a Sunday are the ones who show up when the siren goes.
The helmet and the serving dish.
The concept emblem pairs a fire helmet with a covered dish and a ladle, because in Cressona those two things hold each other up. The dinners pay for the gear, and the crew that answers the calls is the same crew behind the stove.
The roster has room for you.
A volunteer company runs on people, not just donations. There are two ways to stand behind Cressona, and both matter.
Run into the calls
Train as a firefighter. No experience needed to start. The company brings you up through the training, the gear, and the crew.
Keep the company going
Support members are the engine behind every dinner and raffle: cooking, driving, setting up, selling tickets, and handling the books. If you can give a few hours, there is a place for you.
Find the company.
The station
59 S 2nd St
Cressona, PA 17929
The company posts every dinner, raffle, and event on Facebook. That is the best place to reach them and to see what is coming up next.
See the company on FacebookIn an emergency
Do not use this page to report a fire or a medical emergency.
Call 911