News

Join us tomorrow for a local author book signing at Library Express! On Saturday, January 23rd from 1PM-3PM, we will welcome local author, Joseph M. Klapatch to our store. He will be here to sign copies of his book , The Scranton Fire Department 1854-Present, and answer any questions you may have.

Joe Klapatch is a Supervisor and Trainer at Lackawanna County Emergency Services, located in Jessup, Pennsylvania. He is currently in his twentieth year with the agency near Scranton. He was named a Supervisor in 2000 and a Trainer in 2005. In 2012, he was named Line Supervisor of the Year by Pennsylvania APCO and in 2015, he was named as a Life Member by the organization, an honor that only a dozen other members have attained in the statewide organization. A 1983 graduate of King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, PA with a B.A. in Communications, he worked as a Television News Assignment Editor for 17-years with ABC affiliate, WNEP and CBS affiliate, WYOU. He also worked at a number of radio stations in Pennsylvania and New York and wrote a monthly column in the Polish-American Journal Newspaper in Buffalo, NY. For the last 20 years, Joe has also been a dual member of Pennsylvania and Atlantic Region APCO and was Communications Chair for the 77^th Annual APCO International Conference in Philadelphia, PA in 2011. For the last four years, he has been the program chairperson for Pennsylvania’s annual APCO Conference. He also has developed two courses which he has presented locally for area dispatchers and law enforcement, as well as at the 2011 APCO International Conference in Philadelphia and the 2010 Atlantic Region APCO Conference in Albany, NY. Over the last five years, Joe has been doing research to document the histories of all of Lackawanna County’s fire departments dating back to 1843. He has published two books: “The History of the Carbondale, PA Fire Department 1843-2015” and The Scranton Fire Department 1854-Present Including Minooka Hose Company”. He has also been called on to speak on the histories of various fire companies on their milestone anniversaries. He is currently also working with the Scranton Sesquicentennial committee.