GIRARDVILLE - A man who dedicated more than three decades of his life to fire service in Schuylkill County is now wearing yet another helmet.
Girardville fire Chief Frank Zangari Jr. was recently named chairman of the Pennsylvania Fire and Emergency Services Institute's statewide advisory board.
As board chairman, Zangari and the institute will work hand-in-hand with state lawmakers in writing and, hopefully, adopting legislation geared toward emergency services, both fire and emergency medical.
Zangari said the Pennsylvania Fire and Emergency Services Institute brings together representatives of fire and EMS organizations from throughout the state to exchange ideas, build coalitions and create forums for both development and implementation of ideas.
The PFESI is under the direction of Executive Director Don Konkle, former chief of the Harrisburg City Fire Department.
Serving as president of the PFESI is Brian Connely, a past president of American Hose Company, Tamaqua.
Zangari said he was eager to accept chairmanship of the advisory committee in order to bring a voice from Schuylkill County to the state level in dealing with fire and EMS services, both volunteer and professional.
"My interest is to bring Schuylkill County and northeastern Pennsylvania into this coalition letting our voices be heard," he said.
Zangari became chief of the Girardville Fire Department in 1982 and has since taken on leadership roles in Schuylkill County fire organizations. He is currently serving as president of the Schuylkill County Fire Chiefs Association, a post he has held for the past 23 years.
He is also the training committee chairman of the Schuylkill County Fire Training Academy and is a past president of the Schuylkill County Volunteer Firefighters Association.
Moving to a statewide role, Zangari said he hopes to raise the level of firefighting excellence in Schuylkill County and bring the needs and issues of Schuylkill County to the forefront.
The chief credited his years of service and experience to the thousands of volunteers he has worked with throughout his career.
"You're only as good as the people you work with," Zangari said.
He said that getting out of the county and dealing with other representatives from cities like Harrisburg and Pittsburgh will bring new and fresh ideas back home.
"I will be meeting with people from different areas that have different ideas and thoughts about the future of both the fire and emergency medical services," he said. "It's a win-win situation, the more information you can take in and bring home the better our volunteer fire service here will become."
Headquartered in Harrisburg, the PFESI advisory board includes organizations from throughout the state that meet and give recommendations to the mother organization on issues dealing with emergency service organizations.
"We look at the fire service in general, see what needs to be changed or improved and then hopefully turn those things into reality," Zangari said. "We here in Northeast Pennsylvania need to have some input on the laws and issues that will affect us."