Jenkintown Volunteer Finds ‘Joy’ in Return to Fire Department

They say “home is where the heart is,” or so the old proverb goes.

For David Litts, home is Jenkintown. After more than two decades away from the borough, he has returned—and has gotten right back to work.

Litts, 53, has been volunteering with the Jenkintown Fire Department since his return in July 2020. Actually, it’s his second time joining the department: he first joined up as a junior member in 1984.

“There's a lot of joy in coming back here,” he says. “Just having all the extra stuff to do and taking care of things at the firehouse. There's nothing like it.”

As a junior, he learned the ropes at Jenkintown, and took his newfound knowledge to paramedic school and a career in emergency response.

Then he moved south, where he stayed for 22 years. Eventually, he was convinced by an old friend to return.

“I knew this girl for 30 years in Jenkintown, and we were always friends,” he recalls. She kept trying to get him to rejoin the fire department—‘I’m too old to firefight,’ came his rebuttal.

But the resistance didn’t last. “She gently pushed me back into what I love doing,” Litts says.

So, David Litts was once more a volunteer with Jenkintown Fire Department, rejoining a firefighting family, some of whom he’d known for decades.

“We're a very tight knit group at the firehouse,” he says. “We do whatever needs to be done to help each other out.”

That came into play when his friend, Beth, died, shortly after he had undergone abdominal surgery. In the days following, he had his fellow firefighters to fall back on: “Every one of those guys, they were all there. Anything I needed, it was taken care of.”

“Be the Neighbor Who Saves a Neighbor” is Jenkintown Fire Department’s slogan; you see it on the lawn signs and on the banner that spans Old York Road. But it’s deeper than just marketing—the borough is so small that members often find themselves responding to calls that hit quite close to home.

A good example: Litts’ first working house fire after graduating from the fire academy was at his own residence.

“We get dispatched to a citizen’s view of the worst day of their life. You learn a lot of people skills,” he says. “You learn about your community—not just the streets and what type of buildings you have, but about the people that live in your community.”

The fire calls are filled with a quiet adrenaline: a group of volunteers coming together to assess the situation and take action. It’s an opportunity to do something extraordinary—to be a part of something greater than oneself.

“You really are saving lives,” he says. “Your whole mission is to save lives and protect property, and that comes with a great responsibility.”

Litts understands some people might be hesitant to give firefighting a try. “I think a lot of people are interested in it but they don't think that they can do it,” he says, adding, “They can.”

Jenkintown Fire Department provides free training and equipment to all volunteers, and provides the skills needed to respond to any number of emergencies.

“You don't have to be the strongest; you don't have to be the fastest,” Litts says. “There's a job for everybody. There’s so much to learn; there's so much to do.”

Firefighters are always needed, of course, but so are fire police and administrative volunteers. Teenagers can join as junior firefighters starting at 14. Jenkintown volunteers come from a wide spectrum of ages, genders, backgrounds and more, and what brings them all together is serving the people of Jenkintown.

“In the fire service, there's no differences in who you are,” says Litts. “You're all in the same gear.”

You can become the neighbor who saves a neighbor with Jenkintown Fire Department—visit www.FightJenkintownFires.org to sign up.