Cranberry Township is set to continue its partnership with the community’s sole emergency medical services provider.

At a meeting on Thursday, June 26, supervisors approved a two-year contract extension with Cranberry Township EMS that will run through July 31, 2027. The current agreement was set to expire on July 31.

As in previous years, the contract is reviewed and renewed every two years to update responsibilities and terms. The new agreement will follow the same conditions and provisions as the current one, according to township manager Dan Santoro.

Cranberry Township and its EMS department are in the midst of a multi-municipal study to find solutions for ongoing EMS funding and staffing shortages.

In early June, Cranberry Township EMS executive director Matt Nickl informed the Butler Eagle that data collection for that study was complete and it should be finalized later this fall.

Santoro said the agreement could be altered in the future based on those results.

“Once we get through that funding study, we’ll likely come back and look at updating that agreement,” he said during the meeting.

The Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company will receive its new fire engine within the next 45 days, according to Santoro.

Supervisors approved the execution of a $780,283 promissory note with the Cranberry Township Volunteer Firefighter's Relief Association to finance the 2025 Pierce Fire Engine. The loan will be repaid over 10 years using funds from Cranberry’s fire capital budget.

The new vehicle, which will replace a 1989 FMC engine, was initially approved in 2022 at the request of chief Scott Garing as part of the township’s long-term plan to upgrade aging emergency equipment.