EXCLUSIVE: ACCUSED DH&L FIREFIGHTERS INCLUDE PRESIDENT

2/17/2017

By Hilde Kate Lysiak

The firefighters accused of making unauthorized purchases and faking meeting minutes include those at the very top, the Orange Street News has exclusively learned.

The President of the Fire Company is one of the four members of the Dauntless Hook and Ladder Fire Company who are under investigation after being accused of buying discounted fuel and making other purchases through the fire company for the Selinsgrove Speedway. That meant the items were bought without paying all the taxes even though the race track is supposed to pay taxes. The fuel is pumped at the Borough shed at their private fuel station.

The Fire Chief is also under investigation, but for a less serious violation of not reporting it.

The evidence came out at a February 13th meeting.

“Members found invoices that were marked as purchases for the race track,” the source tells the OSN.

One fire fighter “was observed putting fuel into gas cans and five gallon buckets, and even told the members that saw him, that he was taking it to the race track,” according to sources.

The Fire Company refused to allow OSN to attend the meeting — claiming it was “not public.”

The Fire Company’s account is set up to automatically be a tax exempt account because it’s a non profit organization (Scroll down to see form). The race track is not tax exempt. But the OSN has discovered that several members of the Fire Company have money ties to the Selinsgrove Speedway.

The DH&L Fire Company is a 100% Volunteer Fire Company and has a great reputation in the community. Sources told the OSN that the problems are the result of “a few bad apples.”

After the OSN broke the story, DH&L Fire Company Chief Brandon Ulrich told the OSN that the information should have never gone public. “This is a internal investigation that should never have been leaked out and will be handled accordingly.” He said he could no longer comment.

Messages left at the fire station have not been returned by the time of publishing.

When contacted, the Penn Township Supervisors claimed they couldn’t give the OSN any information.

Borough Manager Paul Williams, when asked about the suspensions, told the Orange Street News last week that he wasn’t going to comment.

“It’s a personnel matter,” Williams told the OSN.

Have any tips? Please contact the OSN at hildelysiak@gmail.com

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