Alpha Fire Company commemorates 125 years of service with community celebration

Members of Alpha Fire Company showed children how to operate a fire hose during the company’s 125th anniversary celebration on Saturday, July 20, 2024, in State College. Photo by Greg Guise

The organization was founded in 1899 as the Union Fire Company and would be renamed Alpha Fire Company a year later. The organization was formed by a group of 29 volunteers to provide fire protection to the small but growing Borough of State College.

Alpha began in the early 1900s, when it served a few downtown blocks with hand-drawn hose carts. In recent years, Alpha has grown into a company that works with the State College community. 125 yearsIt now has three stations, 30 appliances and 100 volunteers responding to fires, rescues, hazardous materials incidents and dangerous conditions for 100,000 people spread across 104 square miles of the Centre region.

On Saturday, Alpha celebrated its 125th anniversary of serving the community with a public celebration on the 200th and 300th blocks of South Allen Street.

“Celebrating 125 years of service gives us the opportunity to look back at where we have been and where we are going. We are proud of our past and excited about our future,” Alpha Fire Company President Svend Pedersen told The Centre County Gazette prior to the celebration. “Our celebration is a way to thank the people we serve for their continued support of the Alpha Fire Company and its volunteer members.”

Aside from a few paid positions, Alpha remains a volunteer firefighting organization, with members who are lifelong Centre County residents, transplants, and Penn State students, all wanting to make a difference in their communities.

“At a time when volunteer organizations are struggling with a lack of members, we are proud that the company has been able to provide service for over a century,” said Carmine Prestia, a 52-year-old Alpha volunteer. “This is a result of collaboration between the community, the (Centre Region Council of Governments) and the members of the company. It is a remarkable record and should be celebrated by all of us.”

Saturday’s celebration recalled another piece of Alpha and State College history: the Fire Department’s Fourth of July Carnival, which began in 1927 in the city center and moved to Westerly Parkway in the 1960s. The carnival was discontinued in the 1970s.

The 125th anniversary celebration included a bouncy castle, games, other children’s activities, fire safety demonstrations, fire truck rides, antique fire trucks, historical memorabilia from Alpha Fire Company, food trucks and live music.

Jessi Blanarik of the Centre County Gazette contributed to this report.

See scenes from the celebration, captured by photographer Greg Guise.