Elizabeth Township VFD wraps up centennial celebration
A firemen’s parade capped off the three-day festival.
The Elizabeth Township Fire Department kicked off the final day of its centennial celebration Saturday with a firemen’s parade, as several fire departments and other first responders across the Mon Valley participated to show their support.
Members of the Elizabeth Township Fire Department led a firemen’s parade Saturday as part of the department’s three-day centennial celebration. Heather Hart / For the Mon Valley Independent
The procession began at West Smithfield Street and ended at the Boston Spectrum banquet hall in McKeesport, where a live wrestling match began at 6 p.m. DJ Stan The Man played music after the parade’s end.
Elizabeth Township Fire Chief Adam Janosko gave historical context for the celebration, stating that community involvement and support helped the department stay open and operating for 100 years. The department was established in April of 1926 when Elizabeth Township officials agreed to create a fire department for the township.
The Elizabeth Forward High School band performed Aug. 15, 2026, at the Elizabeth Township VFD centennial parade. Heather Hart / For the MVI
“There was no real political influence or anything, just citizens that cared,” Chief Janosko said, “and they said, ‘Hey, we need to establish a fire department.’ So that was basically where we started, it was the industry fire department, the first fire department to serve Elizabeth Township.”
Janosko added that nearby fire departments, including the Boston Fire Department, shut down over the years, due to economic reasons, manpower, equipment costs and other factors. With the closings, volunteers from each department merged into the current Elizabeth Township Fire Department.
The Elizabeth Forward High School band performed Aug. 15, 2026, at the Elizabeth Township VFD centennial parade. Heather Hart / For the MVI
“We lost departments and merged into what is now known as Elizabeth Township Fire Department No. 1, which most recently includes the active stations of Lido, Central and Greenland,” Janosko said.
Janosko acknowledged the rarity for an organization like the Elizabeth Township Fire Department to surpass 25 years of operation, referring to the centennial as a milestone of community success.
“It’s recognition, not just of our department itself, but all the fire departments in the township, to include Blaine Hill and Buena Vista,” he said. “We figured it was a good milestone. It’s been 100 years, a century, and we should have, basically, more or less a big birthday celebration, like, ‘hey, we exist.’” Janosko stated that people often forget that they had as much of an impact on the fire department’s success as the work done for their own community. He gave the example of the rising costs of first responder vehicles. As truck prices have risen to the range between $750,000 and $1 million, Elizabeth Township’s residents and commissioners have done their best to support the ongoing work of their fire department.
“We didn’t just make it here on our own,” Janosko said. “We had a lot of help along the way, and it’s more or less us celebrating ourselves and kind of giving a ‘thank you’ to all the people involved along the way that helped us get here.”
The parade was part of a three-day celebration of the anniversary, which began with a live acoustic performance by Lou Kampert on Thursday. The festival’s second day included a firefighters’ bucket brigade challenge, a performance by Todd Jones Band and a fireworks display.
