Women’s History Month Profile: Firefighter Jennifer Kingsberry

For Jennifer Kingsberry, firefighting and family are her passions. Along with husband Sean Blake, she is raising two children and volunteering with the Abington Township Fire Department (ATFD). Sean and Jennifer, who met as teenagers working at Target, have been volunteering with ATFD for 10 and eight years respectively. They both started at the Abington Fire Company, but when the … Read More

Watching Firefighters Help His Neighbors Inspired Him to Volunteer

Meet ATFD Volunteer Firefighter Ed Wagner In May 2019, Ed Wagner heard sirens and saw smoke coming from his neighbor’s house. “I was feeling absolutely helpless,” said Ed, an English teacher at Philadelphia’s Samuel Fels High School. “There was nothing I could do to help.” Then the people who could help arrived. “Firetrucks from Edge Hill, the other Abington Township … Read More

ATFD Promotes Fire Safety at 24-Hour Relay Challenge

When participants in Abington School District’s annual 24-Hour Relay Challenge aren’t walking for their team, they can gear up in firefighting apparel and learn some life-saving skills compliments of Abington Township Fire Department (ATFD). The 24-Hour Relay Challenge is a township tradition that raises money for Citizens and Police Together — an Abington-based nonprofit through which citizen volunteers and police … Read More

A.T.F.D. Participates in 17th Annual Pre-National Night Out Block Party Celebrations

The Abington Township Fire Department (ATFD) converged on the Target parking lot on Old York Road Aug. 8 to participate in the annual Pre-National Night Out Block Party, where visitors were able to try on firefighting gear and talk with the department volunteers who serve the community. The event serves as a precursor to the National Night Out celebrations aimed … Read More

Abington Township Fire Department (ATFD) volunteers staffed a booth at this years Willow Grove NAACPs Unity Day Celebration – an annual fair celebrating this communitys diversity and offering opportunities to both have fun and learn for everyone. Unity Day, like all community events, presents ATFD with a fantastic opportunity to give away potentially life-saving smoke/carbonmonoxide detectors, provide residents with information … Read More

Talk the Talk: Empowering Volunteer Firefighters to Recruit

In March 2015, Abington Township Fire Department (ATFD) launched a new program designed to teach our volunteers how to turn any interaction into a recruitment opportunity. The Talk the Talk workshop, co-hosted by ATFD and local communications expert Leza Raffel, taught participants conversational techniques that can be used to quickly communicate the benefits of volunteering and successfully address concerns or … Read More