A Pennsylvania township is moving ahead with expanding full-time, paid firefighters.

The Montgomery Township Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Monday to move ahead with a proposal to expand the number of full-time, career firefighters on staff without hiring a consultant to oversee the process, a move one of the members, Tanya Bamford, wanted to see happen.

"It's not a matter of if but when we are moving this direction," Bamford said. "It's not an issue that is unique to Montgomery Township."

Bamford also says that while she understands these fire protection services are both essential and required by the township, her role is fiscal oversight.

"We just want to make sure we are doing that with a lot of integrity, a lot of transparency," Bamford said, "and that's why I wanted to bring in a consultant."

Bill Wiegman is the fire chief for Montgomery Township.

"Of course, if they want a third-party review, I work for them and I'll do whatever they tell me to do," Wiegman said.

Montgomery Township currently has five full-time paid firefighters and 69 volunteers, but most of them don't have a lot of availability. Wiegman has proposed expanding the full-time staff to 24 starting in 2026.

"We have a great group of dedicated volunteers," Weigman said. "Unfortunately, due to situations that are out of their control, we are just losing volunteers, and we wanted to put a plan together that addresses the gap in public safety."

The chief also says the taxpayers would pay a range of $3 to $41 per month for these services, depending on where they live, but that without these expanded services, response times will suffer.

"The response time efforts between the career engines, which is 4 minutes and 30 seconds, to a volunteer engine on the weekends, which is upward of 12minutes, is a gap we need to close," Weigman said.

The chief also says he's working hard to recruit and maintain volunteers, which will remain an important part of Montgomery Township's response efforts, but long-term, his focus remains on safety, being able to answer the call when everything is on the line.