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Community Corner

Meet George Sverha, Greenawalds Assistant Fire Chief

George Sverha initially volunteered at Greenawalds Fire Co. 30 years ago and is still going strong.

 

Name:  George Sverha. Assistant Fire Chief, .; also past president and past trustee.

Age: 55

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Lives: Lisa Lane, South Whitehall

Family: Wife, Laura; daughters, Megan, 27, and Cynthia, 16.

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Job: Employed by PPL for more than 30 years, most recently as a service technician. “I’m the ‘shut-off’ guy, the guy you don’t want to see,” he says, because when he comes knocking at the door, it’s to shut off your electricity. “I also change meters when that needs to be done, and for a while, I worked on the underground wiring.... I used to be a meter reader, but that’s now done online. During storms, like the one we had last year, I also guide crews who come into the area to help restore power by giving them directions to where they need to go to get the work done. Because I’ve been with the company for so long, I learned the business from Point A to Point B. PPL is a great company to work for, and I’m really happy in my job.”

Volunteer training: “Most of it’s been on-the-job. I used to go to a lot of classes early on, but now I just go to keep up, plus I read a lot...on firefighting. I’ve trained in vehicle rescue, special vehicle rescue, rope training and have a good overall grasp of everything. The training at the fire company is very good. Our two training captains, Andrew and Matt, do a fabulous job....The weekly training at the firehouse takes care of keeping us up to date.”

Why do you do it? “Some 30-odd years ago, I got a letter [from the fire company] about a fund drive. I had just started with PPL and wasn’t making a lot of money, so instead of making a donation, I decided to volunteer my time. I knew how to weld and could do other things around the firehouse, so it really worked out well for me and the company. Once they found out I could weld, we went wild. Some of us put our money together and bought a used arc welder. We actually rehabbed the 1953 GMC open-cab fire truck, took out the old water tank and built a new one from scratch. The camaraderie...is something else. I know if I had a problem at midnight one night, I could call on these guys and they’d be here in 10 minutes to help me.”

Tell us a story about an experience you’ll never forget: “Over the years, there have been so many....

“[I] remember an early morning accident on 22. Traffic was stopped and I was trying to get to the scene, I was walking and saw chunks of meat and blood, and I thought ‘this is going to be really bad.’ When I got to the scene, I found out that a kid was driving, hit a deer -- that was the blood and chunk I had seen -- and went up an embankment. He was ejected from the car because he wasn’t wearing a seat belt, but the deer got the worst of it."

What would you tell people interested in joining the fire company? “C’mon down! It’s a great way to make friends that last forever. It’s also a great life experience and it gives you a place to sit around and talk, plus you can depend on the guys. If you need something done, you can even call guys from other companies: they’re always willing to help. And, you don’t have to be a firefighter; there’s a lot of other things that you can do at the firehouse, whether it’s cleaning, fixing things or doing clerical work.”

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