CLARKS GREEN — Pennsylvania Fire Commissioner Tim Solobay is scheduled to speak about the status and challenges of volunteer fire companies throughout the state at a free event at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2 at the Clarks Summit Volunteer Fire Department on Bedford Street.
All officers and volunteer firemen of Abington area volunteer fire departments and elected officials of the Abington Council of Government (ACOG) communities are invited to attend.
The program, sponsored by the ACOG, will also include light refreshments and a question and answer time with the fire commissioner following his presentation.
Reservations can be made by contacting ACOG secretary Marnie O’Dea Palmer at 570-357-6857.
The event stems from ACOG members’ desire to help the local fire departments call attention to the challenges they face, especially in the area of funding and attracting volunteers to serve. At its monthly meetings, the council often discusses the problems local communities would face if they could no longer lean on volunteers to protect their boroughs and townships – namely the prospect of having to form paid fire departments.
Solobay has been a member of the Canonsburg Volunteer Fire Department since 1978, served as chief for four years and is currently assistant chief.
He also served as the initial chairman of Washington County’s Children’s Fire Safety House project. He has been an emergency medical technician and an instructor for the EMT program and taught CPR and automatic external defibrillator (AED) for the American Heart Association.
The Canonsburg native earned a bachelor’s degree in management from the California Coastal University in Santa Ana, Calif., and is a graduate of Washington Hospital School of Radiologic Technology.
Prior to becoming a state legislator, Solobay served as state constable in Canonsburg from 1982 to 1998. He worked as a radiographer at Canonsburg Hospital, and was the CAT and MRI department supervisor at Washington Hospital. He served as a PA State Senator and prior to that, served six terms in the PA State House of Representatives.
Continuing his experience in emergency management, Solobay was appointed Democratic chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee and as the Senates appointee to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
He serves on many boards, including the Community Action Southwest Board, the Western Career and Technology Center Board, Mon Valley Career and Technology Center Board, Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame Washington/Greene Chapter Advisory Board, Southwestern Pennsylvania Area Agency on Aging Board, and the California University of Pennsylvania Social Work Board of Advisors.
Solobay is a member of Canonsburg’s United Presbyterian Church where he has served as a deacon and elder. He is involved in the local masonic orders and has received his 33rd degree. He is married to Karen Hoholak Solobay. They have a son, Justin, a daughter, Kristen and two granddaughters, Ava Jane and Sarah Elizabeth.
