Mileage between stations is not the issue. The issue is the mileage from a fire station to the residents and businesses in Manor Township. West Lancaster is closer to many areas (though not all areas) of Manor Township than any other non-Manor Township station.

Fire units from outside of Manor Township (East Hempfield, Lancaster) do respond to assist West Lancaster in Manor Township. West Lancaster also responds into both of these municipalities to assist. This is mutual aid. If you remove West Lancaster from that equation, then it is no longer mutual. You would be getting services paid for by the residents of those other municipalities.

The only way to balance that would be for Manor Township taxpayers to pay Lancaster and Rohrerstown fire companies for that coverage. But if you had to pay a fire tax, would you want those revenues going to Manor Township fire companies or to those outside of Manor Township?

If not West Lancaster, on what Manor Township fire company do you want to rely?

Okay. I'll jump in here . I've been in the Fire Service since 1977 . As a Volunteer and as Paid. I've seen alot of changes in those 31 years . From the first year I was ever involved and my Company made it on 17 G's in donations . Until today when many of Volunteer companies are subsisting just barely on 100'gs . From a time when my first company could turn out on average 12 personel for a call until today when some companies can't field even 4 personel . I witnessed a time when one of the fire companies mentioned in these posts wouldn't call for mutual aid from anyone . Now it is standard to have 1 apparatus responding from 3 seperate stations just to get on the street what we once fielded from 1 . I've seen it all , some things change and some don't . We have always been short of funds and manpower to some extent. Today though it is more accute then ever and it needs to be addressed. Because of the very nature of our local government and the corporate nature of our local fire service probably the most effective way to deal with our problems will never happen. That is a County wide department , with a county wide fire tax . So many of my comrades in the fireservice are afraid of this . I read constantly of the fear tactic of either support the volunteers or pay for a career service. That tactic is losing ground everyday. Currently I believe there are 83 volunteer stations and 1 paid department . No where is there a need to staff all 83 stations with paid personel . If it ever comes to the volunteers being unable to get out consistently, (it's happening already) then it may be time to only staff certain strategically located stations with paid staff. The day will also come when we will decide that 83 stations are not needed. Rather at one time a fire company sprung up where the populace was located, they are / were also located based on NFPA standards that were then antiquated and they still haven't been updated to reflect the modern fire apparatus capabilities. No one should ever place too much confidence in the NFPA , for the committes making up the NFPA are has beens, never were's and wanna bes . With a liberal sprinkling of persons from private industry who are there to promote their interests. It may be time to establish fire districts crossing political boundaries . Again our Commonwealth may not allow that , but certainly in these times it makes more sense .
As to complaining about seeing apparatus at McD's , ie joy riding. Training has become a problem in the fire service . Just how much family time do we as volunteers give up . We are mandated to maintain certain levels of certification. If it is perceived that the troops are out joyriding . Think of this, They may be training a new chauffer/operator . It makes sense to take a crew so as to be able to respond to a emergency. It may also be that those volunteers came directly from their job to training and didn't have a chance to eat . Why get so uptight that a crew takes apparatus to a restaraunt?
Before this gets too longwinded . I do believe that local government had better start treating their local fire service with as much respect and funding as they do their law enforcement agency . In turn it is also the responsibility of the fire service to recognize that some stations aren't needed anymore and the personel staffing said station would better serve their citizens by allowing their station to close or be relocated and joining another department. We also need to be truthful and recognize that because we have 3 pieces of equipment now it may not be necessary or prudent to attempt to keep 3 pieces of equipment . Especially in light of the fact that we often times don't have enough staffing to even safely staff 1 apparatus . We the fire service need to be the first to admit that times have changed and it won't stop changing . In the same light government needs to relieze that the way they have provided fire service to their communities for recent memory just isn't gonna work anymore either.