After 47 years in the fire service, nearly eight of them as director of emergency services and fire chief in Emmaus, John H. Price said goodbye to his Emmaus crews Sept. 5 and headed home to Forks Township to enjoy his retirement.

His years in Emmaus were highly positive for the community according to Borough Manager Shane Pepe. “His leadership will be very much missed.” Pepe said.

Price came to Emmaus at the beginning of 2016 after retiring as deputy chief and fire marshal of the Easton Fire Department.

The week before his Emmaus employment even began, Price came to meet with the Emmaus Fire Department officers for a “meet and greet.” A week later he met with all the Emmaus fire and ambulance crew members. It was a time of disarray among government and political entities in the community.

Price told his crews, “I don’t expect to make any great changes in my first six months here.” Price wanted to get to know the community and his crew members. “I want time to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses, and know just where this organization is.”

After the evaluation, Price’s number one vision was to rebuild the first responder staff, establish qualifications, job descriptions and accountability. He was building trust between fire, ambulance and law enforcement crews and getting used to working under the newly established union contract, which covered up to 90 percent of the professional fire responders.

Pepe said Price’s biggest leadership strength was “rebuilding relationships.”

Price “created relationships between different (borough) departments that weren’t even there before,” Pepe said. “When John spoke, he had instant credibility among all our departments because of the professionalism he brought to his role.”

Price’s organization-building mission was simple and straightforward: “Protect and preserve life and property among those we serve and strive to become the premier fire service provider in the Lehigh Valley - an organization that others would model themselves after.”

“I’m not going to judge whether we’ve completely gotten there,” Price said, “but we’ve made some pretty good progress.”

Pepe was not shy about making that call however. He told The Press in June, “I think we now have one of the best fire departments on this side of the state.”

Price said the recent rebuilding of the Sixth Street fire/ambulance facility has helped build department morale and add efficiency to the crews’ emergency responses. A new fire engine was added to the fleet in 2021.

The Emmaus Fire Department’s primary response area is now within the Borough of Emmaus, with areas expanding for automatic and mutual aid including Upper Milford Township, Salisbury Township, Macungie Borough, Lower Macungie Township and the city of Allentown. The department currently maintains a staffing of three personnel 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They can handle roughly 95 percent of incidents autonomously. The department also utilizes a “call back” for additional personnel when an incident warrants it.

Price said, “Credit for any success I’ve had here, goes to the great team we have in place. The staff’s dedication to professionalism is inspiring,” Price said

Price said his happiest accomplishment is that “fire and ambulance crews are now operating as one department - one family.”

Next for Price is “spending more time with my wife, Billimae and our grandchildren.” He and his wife both enjoy cruises and travel and trips to Europe and Alaska are on the couple’s horizon.

“My wife has already planned out four cruises in the next 14 months,” Price said. “The ones I enjoy the most are those with a lot of days at sea. That’s when we can really relax.”

Pepe said the job description of Assistant Director of Emergency Services Keith Miller calls for him to be in charge of the department until a new chief is named.

Pepe said a search, both inside and outside the department will be made for Price’s replacement.

“That person will have some big shoes to fill,” Pepe said. “I’m not sure anyone else could have done what John has accomplished in his eight years here.”