Article from Times Herald:

Staying connected
By GARY PULEO
04/14/2007

LIMERICK - When news of the brutal schoolhouse slayings at Nickel Mines Amish School broke last October, the media barrage sent the notoriously discreet Amish pleading for their privacy.

That appeal was heard as far away as Conshohocken, where Montgomery County fire police commissioner Clinton Wakefield began rallying colleagues from several counties to head up to Bart Township in Lancaster County to help keep the intrusion at bay.

"When they asked for help out at Nickel Mines I made sure the other counties were called, along with a multitude of fire companies in Montgomery County that supplied fire police - and before we knew it we had about 100 fire police out there from all over," Wakefield explained.

"Since they wanted their privacy for quite a few days, we basically kept the town shut down until Friday night. The biggest problem was the press, who wanted to get as close to the houses as they could," he added.

"If you didn't have a pass to get into town, you didn't get in. If you can imagine stopping people on Main Street in Norristown or Jeffersonville and not letting anybody in unless they had a pass, that's how it was out there."

Had the Nickel Mines tragedy occurred a year or so earlier, the Amish might not have benefited from such a flawlessly agile multi-county response.

But in the fall of 2006, Wakefield's ability to corral the right people at the right moment had become razor-sharp, thanks to the colossal demands of a state firemen's convention held in Conshohocken that year.

"Six months before the convention I traveled to the fire police association meetings in all the surrounding counties asking for help with traffic at the convention, so that's how I got to know these guys," he said. "When the Nickel Mines shootings happened and I got a phone call, I thought of calling on all of them."

The schoolhouse tragedy that sparked an alliance among Montgomery, Chester, Berks, Bucks, Delaware and Lancaster counties fire police resulted in a bond that has since hatched an ongoing relationship.

"It was my thought to say maybe we can get some guys together from different counties and figure out how we can communicate with each other and work together, in case anything like this ever happens again. We can get fire police out there quicker," Wakefield explained.

Every couple of months the new multi-county fire police task force comes together in the back room of Limerick Diner to grab a bite to eat over official business.

The popular eatery donates the space.

"The reason we meet in Limerick is that it seemed like a good neutral spot for the guys from all these counties to travel to," Wakefield noted. "I asked them the other night if anyone would like to host the meeting in their area and they said no, they were very happy coming down to the Limerick Diner."

At the most recent session, held Wednesday evening, the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire Police Association placed eight two-way radios into the grateful keep of Bart Township Fire Company's fire police captain Terry Wise.

"Montgomery County just went over to a new 800 megahertz system, so we have these portable radios that are now useless to us," Wakefield noted. "We knew that our radios were close to same frequency as the Lancaster County guys. It just made sense to donate them. All they have to do is hook them up to a computer and they'll be good for them to use."

The gift reflected the true purpose of the meeting - communication.

"We had key people from each county's fire police association, and they all brought with them typed information - house phone numbers, cell numbers, e-mail addresses, and then everybody went home with the information on every single person there," Wakefield said.

"So let's say another incident happened similar to Bart Township, God forbid," added the West Conshohocken resident. "Now, instead of calling up Lancaster County and saying 'I need fire police, can you help me find them?' they can now call directly to their local commissioners to see who's available during the day. Part of my job is to know which guys are available at which times, so I can let the county dispatch know about who is ready to go."

The term 'fire police' is frequently misinterpreted, Wakefield said.

"A lot of people try to separate those two words, but fire police are all members of their fire departments, plus they're sworn in as officers of their community," he noted. "So they do have certain rights as sworn-in fire police officers. We basically do all the traffic and crowd control, basic security, handling parades and special services."

Wakefield noted that fire police are especially critical in areas that may have a limited police department, or none at all.

"We're all volunteers, and people should always realize that," he said. "If anybody is interested in joining the local fire police, they should contact me and I'll put them in touch with the right people."

Clinton Wakefield may be reached at firepolicecommissioner@verizon.net, or through the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire Police Association Web site, www.montcofp.org.

Gary Puleo can be reached at 610-272-2500, ext. 205, or at gpuleo@timesherald.com.

At the April 2007 Fire Police Commissioners' meeting, the MCVFPA presented Bart Township with our no longer used Low Band portable radios. The photos posted here are of the people attending this dinner meeting at the Limerick Diner.