Firehouse fight in Hummels Wharf, PA after assistant chief loses election. Chief says drinking involved. Call comes in at same time.
The Hummels Wharf Fire Co. Social Club Facebook page announced Monday's elections and a smoke detector and battery giveaway at the same meeting.
While some members of the Hummels Wharf Fire Department responded on an engine to a car crash around 11:00 PM, two people were calling Snyder County 911 about a fight at the fire station. According to news reports, the fight between two members occurred right after a company meeting where one of the men found out he would no longer be the assistant chief. A deputy chief confirms both men had been drinking before and after the meeting. Police say they were stretched a little thin handling both the accident and the fight.
State police at Selinsgrove say Tony D. Wells, 37, of Hummels Wharf, became angry during the meeting when he lost a bid for retention as assistant chief. Wells started swearing at various members. When another officer, Bruce W. Bickel, 47, of Shamokin Dam, headed toward his office, Wells accosted him, tackling Bickel into a stack of chairs. Several individuals restrained Wells.
During the melee, Wells struck his head on the ballot box being carried by Bickel, causing him to bleed. Bickel suffered scratches to his face and neck and a shoulder injury. Afterwards, Wells also threatened to beat up Christopher J. Eppley, 20, of Hummels Wharf, according to police.
From The Daily Item interview with Hummels Wharf Fire Department John "Jack" Grove:
"We're going to handle things internally, and hopefully get things straightened out so it doesn't happen again," he said. "That's just not what we're about."
Grove said the two had been drinking before and after the regular monthly fire department meeting Monday night, and the fight was "a personal thing" involving the fire company.
"They had been at odds with one another for quite a few months," he said.
