What’s going on in Colwyn is not all that unusual.

Lots of local volunteer fire companies have two different organizations, one comprised of active volunteers who actually fight fires, and one of “social” members who take part in the, ahem, other advantages of the fire house.

But in Colwyn, the friction between the two groups has boiled over. All 17 active volunteer firefighters have resigned en masse, citing problems with social members and drinking at the fire house.

Now the fire company has a new leader who is trying to put the organization back on an even keel. F. Earl Reed has his work cut out for him. You can read Correspondent Dan Russo’s account here.

There are allegations of alcohol use and misuse of funds. Now the state police and district attorney’s office are involved.

Lost in all this is that a valuable volunteer service, one that forms the backbone of many of our communities, is in jeopardy.

We wish Reed well in his work to get Colwyn Fire Co. back up and running again. And we hope investigators can get to the bottom of what happened in the fire company and offer the public a full accounting.

We’ll be waiting to hear the results.