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Police & Fire

Bristol Fire Company Selects New Officers for 2013

The Bristol Fire Company (Station 51) members have selected new officers for the new year.

Bristol Fire Company (Station 51) has started a new year with changes to its officers that oversee emergency operations in the field and routine administrative duties within the company. According to a press release, Station 51 changes officers at the beginning of the new calendar year to allow other members in the company who are interested in serving in leadership roles and taking on new responsibilities. Bristol Fire Company members nominate and vote for the officers.  Below are a list of the new officers and those who have retained their positions, and a brief summary of each role: Chief: Herb Slack (Chief in 2012) Deputy Chief: Francis Hufnell Jr. (Deputy chief in 2012) The chief and deputy chief oversee the company’s emergency and …

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Fire Company Program Focuses on Recruitment, Community Outreach

Station 51’s initiative is made possible through a Federal Emergency Management Agency Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant.

Bristol Fire Company (Station 51) in the borough has launched a new initiative that is geared toward informing the community about its services and recruiting new members to the all-volunteer department. Bristol Fire Company’s new brand identity is based on a visioning session that took place with its members over the summer, where volunteers explained what they enjoyed about the department and discussed its future growth. Station 51’s initiative is made possible through a Federal Emergency Management Agency Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant, which provides the company with funding for community outreach and volunteer recruitment support. Station 51 has hit the ground running with its outreach initiative, …

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Fallen Bristol Firefighter Honored in Doylestown

Bristol Fire Company Fire Police Captain David Wintz, who died in the line of duty in May, was honored Sunday morning outside the county courthouse in Doylestown.

Helen Wintz closed her eyes tightly shut; tears began to stream down her face. As her eyes slowly opened, she intensely looked at her late husband's name, newly engraved into the Bucks County memorial for fallen firefighters in Doylestown. Bristol Fire Company Fire Police Captain David Wintz died in the line of duty on May 16 after suffering a heart attack minutes after leaving the scene of the massive three-alarm chemical fire at the Dow campus. On Sunday, the devoted father and longtime public servant was honored in the 2012 Bucks County Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service. Fire service colleagues from throughout Wintz's 50-year career attended the Sunday morning ceremony in the Bucks County Courthouse courtyard. Local dignitaries and …

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Fallen Bristol Fire Police Captain to be Honored

Bristol Fire Company Police Captain David Wintz will be honored in Doylestown on Sunday.

  The Bristol Fire Company (Station 51) and the Bucks County Fire Chief’s and Firefighter’s Association will pay tribute to late Bristol Fire Police Captain David Wintz, who died in the line of duty while directing traffic during a three-alarm blaze at Dow Chemical's Rohm & Haas Bristol plant in May 2012. The eighth annual event will take place at 10 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 30 at the Bucks County Courthouse, located at 55 E. Court St. in Doylestown. Wintz — who served as a firefighter for 50 years — died of a heart attack shortly after leaving the scene of the fire after he became ill. Emergency responders from Bristol Fire Company arrived at Wintz’s home to try to revive him, but were unsuccessful. Wintz’s name will be added to a memorial …

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Firefighters Save Lives With Free Smoke Detectors

Thanks to a $23,000 grant, Bristol Fire Company will install 1,500 smoke alarms in homes for free.

The Bristol Fire Company, Station 51, recently received a $23,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security for a smoke alarm program. “Smoke alarms have proven to be a well-worth investment,” said Herb Slack, Bristol's fire chief. “We’ve been involved with a carbon monoxide program now for about a year, where we got another grant to install carbon monoxide alarms, and while we were out there installing them, we were also checking on smoke alarms.” What they were finding is that people did have the alarms, but then when they checked them they were discovering that in a lot of cases they were more than 10 years old. Smoke alarms only have an effective life of 10 years. The Department will utilize the grant from the Fire Prevention and …

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First Responders Gather In Bristol For Fallen Officer's Funeral

Hundreds of mourners gathered in Bristol Monday during services honoring Fire Police Captain David Wintz. The long-time volunteer died last week shortly after leaving the scene of a three-alarm fire at the Dow Chemical Plant.

Family, friends and first responders from across the region gathered together in Bristol Borough Monday to attend the mass for Bristol Fire Company Fire Police Captain David Wintz. Wintz, 65, died early last Wednesday after feeling ill and leaving the scene of the massive three-alarm fire at the Dow Chemical plant. After pulling into the driveway of his Penn Street home and exiting his tan truck with red emergency lights affixed to the top -- a staple at Bristol fire scenes -- Wintz went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead shortly after by doctors at Lower Bucks Hospital. Many of the first responders who worked to try to revive the fallen Wintz  said they knew him through his nearly 50-years of serving in local fire companies in …

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