Changing of the guard
New Hope Gazette
By Sean Patrick Murphy, Assistant Editor
01/18/2007

For newly elected New Hope Eagle Fire Company Chief Craig Forbes, public service is in the blood. His father has been a police officer in New Hope since the early 1970's and he himself has been a member of the company for about 15 years.

As far as his first course of action as the new chief, Forbes said recently he isn't expecting to do anything "dramatic." The company's membership works very well together, he said. "So, there's really no need to shake things up a whole lot," Forbes said. "We're going to tweak some of the stuff that we do."

Part of that tweaking involves updating information on the company's donated computers, including mapping of the borough. "That's what we're looking to do at the moment," Forbes said.

He said his long-term goals are "to keep providing the high level of service we have to the community right now." "We're gaining in membership, we have a great core of junior firefighters right now and they're our future firefighters," Forbes said. "The goal always is to keep the high level training we have and the high level of professionalism that we have in our current department and maintain that."

A self-employed builder in the New Hope-Solebury area, Forbes was an EMT with the Lambertville, N.J.-New Hope Ambulance and Rescue Squad for four years.
A lifelong resident of New Hope-Solebury, he also has held several officer positions with the Eagle Fire Company, which is staffed by volunteers. Forbes was battalion chief for about five years, assistant chief for about seven years and vice president of the company for about four years. "I've been involved with the department for a long time," he said.

At 33, Forbes is not married and has no children. Candidates for officer positions are nominated and voted upon by the membership. The election was the first Tuesday in December. Forbes replaces Tom Markey, who served as the company's chief for the last 22 years. Forbes said he was happy to be nominated and "was pleasantly surprised" that he was elected chief. "I've put a lot of years in here and just want to some updating," the 1991 graduate of New Hope-Solebury High School said.

Eagle Fire Company Captain Daryl Jurbala sees some incremental change now that Forbes is at the helm. "I think we're probably going to be a little bit more technologically progressive," Jurbala, who has been with the company six years, said. "I think we're going to get a lot more in order as far as pre-plans and computer-aided mapping," things they have been working on for the last couple of years.
Pre-plans are plans for large structures showing where the nearest hydrant or standpipe is as well as floor plans, and tenant listing. "We're always looking to recruit more members, we're trying to get the message out to the community for fire safety," Jurbala said. "We're trying to continually improve the service we can provide and now with our ISO rating coming up there's a huge component in the fire department that I know Craig will be working with me on to make sure that ISO is happy with our record keeping [and] the types of equipment on the trucks," he said.

The Insurance Service Organization (ISO) audit take place in the next couple of years because of hydrants becoming available when the new public water system comes online in New Hope. It is widely thought rates for homeowners and businesses will go down once the audit takes place.

Deputy Chief Frank Cosner Jr. has been with the company for 27 years. "Obviously the company's ready for a change, so we'll see what happens," Cosner said of Forbes' election. He said the challenges are the ones the company faces overall: keeping people interested, keeping people trained, finding funding and maintaining the standards that have been set in the past. And what are his thoughts on Forbes?
"He's a good person. He's dedicated," Cosner said. "Obviously, he's spent a lot of years here." He said the best qualities for a fire chief include "being able to mediate, take an overall picture, listen to people, [and] to lead people."