In 1924, Scott Township was a small but thriving municipality. Coal mines, oil wells and gas wells dotted the township map, and heavy industries in and around the township employed hundreds. Three steam railroads and one electric trolley line provided freight and passenger transportation to nearly anywhere. Much of the township was farmland, with a few developed areas. About half of the total population of the township lived in the area along Chartiers Creek at the north-south center of the township, in a neighborhood known as Glendale. The Superior Steel mill was there, as were O. Hommel Company and the large Mansfield coal mines. This part of the township had long been its center of political power, and had paved streets, electric street lights, and city water and sewer service. These amenities were found nowhere else in the township. The next most populous and developed part of the township was historic Bower Hill, site of the deadliest battle in the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. By 1924, Bower Hill was home to the James B. Sipe Paint Company and the Bower Hill coal mines. The residents of this area were in a minority in representation in the township government, and every attempt to secure the amenities found in the center of the township were denied by the township board of commissioners. Joseph McGill was the representative on this board from Bower Hill, and he worked tirelessly to see these essential services provided to his bailiwick.

In the fall of 1924, the residents of the southern portions of Scott Township including Bower Hill relied on the Bridgeville Borough and Mount Lebanon Township Fire Departments for fire protection. (Residents of the northernmost parts of the township relied on Chartiers Township Volunteer Fire Department. This department would reincorporate in Scott Township about 15 years later as East Carnegie VFD, after Chartiers was annexed by the City of Pittsburgh.) The Glendale Volunteer Fire Department was the only fire department in Scott Township, and although it was designated by the township commissioners to provide fire protection to the township, the Bridgeville and Mount Lebanon departments could reach Bower Hill more quickly because there were at least a few decent roads between these areas and Bower Hill. The same could not be said within the township. Moreover, Mount Lebanon and Bridgeville had each purchased new American La France fire engines in 1923 and 1924 respectively, and could provide better firefighting capability. Still, it usually took well over fifteen minutes for any fire apparatus to reach Bower Hill. The township commissioners had long refused to authorize the organization of another fire department in the township, but the situation was becoming intolerable. In September of 1924, Commissioner McGill called for a meeting in the newly-opened Bower Hill School to raise public interest in the effort to secure a public water supply and fire protection for the Bower Hill, Woodville and Leasdale neighborhoods in the southern part of the township. The meeting was well attended, and the attendees were quite vocal. The residents, especially those belonging to an organization called "The Bowerton League," voiced the opinion that if the township was not willing to provide essential public services including a water supply, and allow a local fire department, that they would have no choice but to incorporate as a borough and secede from Scott Township. A preliminary petition was drafted, proposing that all that portion of the township lying south of Scrubgrass Run be incorporated as the Borough of Bowerton. Scott Township had seen its area decreased by more than two-thirds in two previous secessions, those of Dormont Borough in 1909 and Mount Lebanon Township in 1912, and these areas had seceded over these same issues. The commissioners were most interested in seeing that they didn’t lose the economically important Bower Hill, Woodville and Leasdale neighborhoods and about one-third of the township's remaining land area. They quickly authorized further meetings to arrange the establishment of both a public water supply and a volunteer fire department in the southern section of the township. The water supply was completed before the end of the year and two fire hydrants were placed in service, one in Bower Hill and one in Woodville, and the township board of commissioners secured a building on Montgomery Avenue to house the fire department.

Twelve men volunteered to become the first Bower Hill firefighters. They began the steps necessary to incorporate the department. The first election of officers of the Bower Hill Volunteer Fire Department was held in November, 1924. The executive officers were: Edward Kissich, President; Frank Ringel, Vice President; Joseph Perlechek, Secretary; and Martin Schneider, Treasurer. Only two line officers were elected: Frank Ringel, Chief; and Joseph Perlechek, Captain.

The department entered service with a hand-drawn hose cart and a few hundred feet of fire hose, two hand-pumped water fire extinguishers, and some canvas coats and leather helmets, all purchased used, reportedly from U.S. Government World War 1 surplus. There were no ladders, no axes or hooks, and no pumping engine. The static pressure in the new public water supply, which by early 1925 included 15 fire hydrants, was sufficient to get water through the hose without an engine or pump in the areas closest to the creek and in the “downtown” of the Bower Hill, Woodville and Leasdale neighborhoods, and firefighters supplied their own hand tools and ladders. The members immediately planned to acquire a motorized fire engine and the proper firefighting equipment to provide the level of service the community deserved and had reason to expect. Fund raising became as important an aspect of membership in the fire department as fire fighting training. The residents and businesses responded, and within a few months the department bought a Ford Model T truck chassis and had a Howe combination chemical and hose fire apparatus body installed on it. This type of apparatus was simply a very large soda-acid pressurized fire extinguisher and hose wagon, but it provided firefighting capabilities both close to and away from the water mains. The canvas coats were replaced with rubberized ones, and metal helmets replaced leather. New equipment followed. Firefighters no longer needed to bring their own ladders and axes to the call.