Paul Abbott has been working as an emergency responder in Beaver County for 45 years.
He said during his years of service, there has never been more of a need for additional members of fire departments/companies and EMS agencies than right now.
Abbott is the current president of the Beaver County Firefighters Association, which represents 40 fire agencies in the county.
During a recent county commissioners’ meeting, Abbott discussed one of the biggest issues emergency agencies have to deal with – a lack of manpower.
“We all know there’s an issue with the fire service in the county,” Abbott said. “It’s not a quality of service problem, it’s a manpower problem.”
Added Abbott: “We have some really outstanding fire departments in the county…we’re just lacking in manpower.”