A 5-year driving ban, claims of interference and dueling accusations have pushed Liberty Township and the Mountain Lake Volunteer Fire Company into a legal showdown

By Glenn Epps
The Express-Times

LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Tensions surrounding a dispute between Mountain Lake Fire Company and Liberty Township officials are reaching a boiling point.

Members of the Mountain Lake Volunteer Fire Company have accused the township’s elected officials of interfering with emergency response operations and unfairly punishing one of its members, jeopardizing the company’s effectiveness.

| MORE: Defensive driving during emergency response

The Mountain Lake Fire Company also claims Mayor John Inscho, who once served 50 years as a member of the fire department, has used this opportunity to fulfill a personal vendetta against the firefighter with whom he was once friends.

Committeeperson Wayne Spangenberg refuted the accusations.

“What they’re saying is false. We need our fire company, we respect our first responders and we support our firefighters,” Spangenberg said, “It’s between the lawyers now.”

The Mountain Lake Volunteer Fire Company is represented by John Lanza of Lanza & Lanza. The township is being advised by Richard Wenner, an attorney with Lavery, Selvaggi & Cohen.

Mayor John Inscho and other Liberty Township Committee members did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations made against the body. Phone numbers listed online for the mayor and some elected officers were disconnected as of Tuesday.

The controversy dates back to an allegation by a motorist who claimed their vehicle was “side-swiped” by passing emergency vehicles, Chief Hubert said. The incident, which has been resolved by the township and police, involved two fire trucks that responded to a call on April 24.

One fire truck passed the other, veering into oncoming traffic and crossing a solid double yellow line on the road. The maneuver was caught on camera and shocked multiple motorists on the road, sources for lehighvalleylive.com said.

An investigation determined that the driver was not liable for any damages. However, opinions about whether the driver operated the vehicle responsibly are mixed.

Township officials agreed in June that the town-owned vehicle was operated unsafely and imposed a 5-year driving suspension, restricting the volunteer from operating the township’s vehicles. That volunteer can continue to serve as a firefighter.

The township is now in the process of rewriting its code for the fire department, Wenner said. Officials are expected to meet again in January to discuss the matter.

The fire company, which has served the community for 76 years, alleges that the price of the penalty is too high.

The fire company’s three dozen volunteers respond to roughly 200 around-the-clock emergencies in Liberty Township and portions of White Township every year. The volunteer censured by the township is a 30-year veteran of the volunteer organization and one of only eight responders capable of operating the department’s vehicle.

“Even a DWI offense gets less time,” Hubert said, “Why is a five-year suspension warranted?”

In a post to Facebook, the company alleges officials threatened to cancel the department’s motor vehicle liability insurance and to revoke budgeted funding for radio devices, but had no proof that action had been taken against the fire company as of Dec. 30, 2025.

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