Organized in 1917
Born out of tragedy in 1917, Pleasant Unity Volunteer Fire Department was founded after a devastating fire destroyed multiple homes and businesses, leaving a total of 16 families displaced. The miners who put out this fire, by using dynamite to blow up the house next in line to be engulfed, were the first firefighters in Pleasant Unity. A $50 donation from a town resident allowed them to organize and buy their first piece of firefighting equipment, a hand-drawn cart with two 30-gallon tanks. They later upgraded from man-power to machine, eventually mounting the tanks to a Ford Model T.
The department bought its first fire truck, an American LaFrance pumper, in 1940. In the beginning, the department called a resident’s garage home, but finally got their own dedicated building when their first fire station opened on Main Street in 1949. They outgrew this space and moved into their current garage, located off route 981 on John George Street in 1985. Today in 2023, space and expansion is still the name of the game, says Chief John Bacha.
A garage bay previously occupied by Mutual Aid Ambulance, who relocated to Norvelt in January, is set to become an additional bay for the department, and they are currently evaluating the possibility of adding another firetruck to their department. The department recently received a rare, but vital, piece of equipment to save people who become entrapped in grain bins, which can lead to suffocation. The equipment was sponsored by Panichelle Insurance of Latrobe, and
Pleasant Unity is the only department in the township, and one of two departments in the county to have this lifesaving equipment that the department is willing to deploy anywhere within the region, if necessary.
Pleasant Unity celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2017, and currently has 39 total members. Chief Bacha says in the future he looks forward to continuing to train monthly with the fire bureau along with additional monthly training with Mutual, Dryridge and Marguerite Volunteer Fire Departments.
Chief Bacha would like to thank the residents of Pleasant Unity for their continued support.
Contact Us
Address:
135 John George Street
P.O. Box 197
Pleasant Unity, PA 15676
Phone:
724-423-6719
Website:
www.puvfd.org
Email:
info@puvfd.org
