At the Parkesburg Borough Council Meeting on Monday evening May 15th, 2023, several police officers were recognized for their actions during the Easter Sunday House Fire that left 22 people without a home.

This incident has left a mark on the Parkesburg area and Western Chester County said Fire Chief Brian Gathercole said. This incident was an unfortunate incident however, it resulted in zero lives lost and allowed each and every one of us the ability to return home! The horrific incident left 22 people homeless however, and the Parkesburg Community stepped up and is helping those families! The community rallied and is continuing to do so. Thank you too all.

At this meeting, Law Enforcement Officers were recognized by public officials attending the event including the following:

Rep. Dan Williams
Mayor John Hagen
Commissioner Josh Maxwell,
Borough Council members

Law Enforcement responders were instrumental in getting residents up and out of their houses. Their actions were clearly lifesaving and heroic. Many lives were saved by their action. As such Parkesburg Mayor John Hagen provided some great comments to the recipients and the following were recognized.

Pennsylvania State Police Lieutenant William Donahue - Lieutenant Donahue was credited with saving several lifes that morning being the first responder arriving on-scene at the fire. Upon his arrival the Lieutenant indicated to dispatchers that several homes were fully involved with entrapment. Lieutenant Donahue made contact with several victims and pulled them from their homes.

East Fallowfield Police Officer Richard McAllister assisted Lieutenant Donahue and was one of the first arriving officers on-scene assisting waking residents near-by to evacuate their homes.

Parkesburg Police Officers Justin Fonock and Jacob Williams were the on-duty officers and given recognition for staying the entire time on-scene assisting KVFD with life saving measures and also assisting in location and coordination of the victims.

Parkesburg Police Department was recognized as a whole. Chief Sheller and Sgt. Murtagh were in attendance and accepted their recognition. The Parkesburg Police worked side by side with KVFD through this entire incident and process and it showed that first responders no matter what their assignment was put life and property safety to the front when confronted with hazardous conditions.

Chief Gathercole concluded that this incident again has left its mark and to end the presentation Parkesburg's Council Chair Sharon Wolf indicated that this incident is something that will not be forgotten in Parkesburg History as the Easter 2023 fire which damaged several homes on Washington Street. Parkesburg Borough Council thanked all the responders and also those helping behind the scenes with this incident.