INPERSON
42 Years of Service
Peters Township Fire Chief Dan Coyle
reflects on his career with the department
as he prepares for retirement.
After 42 years—37 as Peters Township Fire
Chief—Dan Coyle will pass the torch to
current Deputy Fire Chief Mike McLaughlin.
BY NICOLE TAFE
P
eters Township Fire Chief Dan
Coyle has been a staple member
of the community for over 40
years. This year, Coyle will pass
the torch as he retires from a rich career
of serving the residents and families of
the township.
Coyle joined the Peters Township Fire
Department as a volunteer in 1977 when
he was 19 years old. “I used to be an auto
mechanic, and I worked on the fire chief ’s
car back in the ‘70s,” he recalls. “One
day he asked me if I’d be interested in
volunteering, and I said, ‘Sure, why not?
I’ll give it a shot’—and here I am.”
Through the years, Coyle was
promoted from lieutenant to captain to
assistant chief. In 1982, he took over as
fire chief of the volunteer department.
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“At that time, the entire department was
basically two people—the fire chief and
another person to drive the truck,” says
Coyle. “We were drastically understaffed,
and as the call volume started to go up
with the rapidly growing township, we
started to experience fires that we didn’t
have enough people for.”
Under Coyle’s supervision, the
department continued to evolve in the
coming years—hiring more staff that
made shifts until midnight possible. In
2008, the department began operating
on a 24-hour shift that provided on-duty
firefighters at any time of any day. Today,
the Peters Township Fire Department has
10 full-time and six part-time employees,
with 27 volunteers.
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Coyle prides himself on the balance
and camaraderie that exists within the
team—whether staff or volunteers. “We
work really hard to keep the balance
between career fire and volunteers,
helping them to work together instead
of against each other, and we’ve been
very successful at it. It’s not like that in all
departments,” he notes.
But with Coyle as fire chief, the Peters
Township Fire Department has grown
in far more ways than just employee
numbers.
“During Chief Coyle’s tenure, he has
overseen the expansion of the Peters
Township Fire Department from a
volunteer force to a superior unit
consisting of both paid firefighters and
community volunteers,” says Council