Just the Facts:

Fire/EMS Staffing Levy

November 7, 2023 election

3 big challenges

  • A 72% increase in incidents over 8 years has put a strain on a volunteer-based system that wasn’t designed to handle an average of four calls a day.

  • With part-time employees, LTFD maintains advanced life support staffing 24/7 with a paramedic on duty. But those paramedics leave for full-time opportunities, leaving critical gaps in the roster.

  • Nationwide, the volunteer fire service is facing a crisis: increasing demand with fewer volunteers. The model is shifting, even at the recommendation of the State Fire Marshal, to on-duty personnel.

Demand:
Up 72% in under a decade.

Volunteer firefighters responding from home used to handle the call volume without an issue.

But times have changed.

Demand is up. The number of personnel available to work is down, and multiple departments are pulling from the same pool of candidates. Full-time opportunities are leaving part-time departments like LTFD in the lurch.

It’s a nationwide problem, and we’re working hard to address it and plan for the future at the local level.

Staffing:
A Statewide Issue

Ohio Volunteer Fire Task Force Report & Recommendations

In April 2022, Gov. DeWine formed the task force to study the volunteer fire service in Ohio. The group was spearheaded by the Ohio Department of Commerce, chaired by State Fire Marshal Kevin Reardon, and comprised of local elected officials and firefighters from all around the state. 

The comprehensive report contains recommendations across several focus areas that include:

•    Volunteer recruitment and retention. 
•    Training issues to enhance volunteer firefighter training. 
•    Financial stability of Ohio’s volunteer fire departments. 

Many of the proposed recommendations will require legislative support and approval while others will require policy changes within existing programs that regulate firefighter and EMS training and support. Several additional recommendations include:

•    Length of service awards program.
•    Tuition vouchers for higher education.
•    State income tax credit.
•    Local property tax abatement.
•    Institute live-in programs for college students, young singles, and others.
•    Redesign training curriculum to improve competencies.
•    Volunteer cadet program.

Gov. DeWine has charged the task force to continue its work with a next phase examining response times for both fire and EMS incident calls. 

How much would the levy cost me?

Appraised Value

$100,000

$200,000

$300,000

Monthly

$12.25

$24.50

$36.75

But let’s get specific

For specifics to your property, follow these instructions:

  1. Visit the Wood County Auditor’s page here

  2. Search for your property

  3. Click “Levy Estimator” at the top of the page

  4. Look for “Lake Township Fire” in the list of levies on the ballot

Volunteers at LTFD

Status of Volunteers in the
Lake Township Fire Department

Volunteer firefighters serve an important role in the operations of the Lake Township Fire Department. While we now refer to them as “paid-per-call” members, as they are paid by the hour, the term “volunteer” has long been used to refer to those firefighter/medical providers who respond from their homes when an emergency occurs.

While part-time staffing allows us to handle the majority of routine medical calls and, with the addition of Rescue 26, small fires, the one thing we need for more involved scenes is personnel. A cardiac arrest requires as many as ten personnel to effectively work to save a person’s life. National standards dictate 15 personnel must be on scene within 9 minutes, 90% of the time, when responding to a structure fire.

We cannot afford to do away with volunteer personnel in Lake Township. Nearby departments that have transitioned to full-time staffing held on to their volunteers until they had five or six daily full-time employees on staff. Until we reach the need that prompts that level of staffing and the financial considerations that come with it, we must focus on recruitment, retention, and utilizing our volunteers in new ways to meet the needs of today’s incident volume.

A framework for the future,
whether regional or independent

Joint Fire & EMS District Feasibility Study

LTFD isn’t alone in adjusting to the demands of today’s fire and EMS service. Accordingly, leaders from Lake Township, the City of Northwood, and the City of Rossford provided joint funding for this study to examine the possibility of joining efforts with the goal of improving service. The study also provides the roadmap for an option for the departments to remain separate but address the same needs.

The Ohio Fire Chiefs’ Association performed a feasibility study to determine if the formation of a joint fire and emergency medical services (EMS) district involving the city of Northwood, Lake Township, and the city of Rossford would be beneficial to their respective communities. The study included an analysis of the current fire and EMS delivery systems in their respective response areas, risk analysis, evaluation of equipment and facilities, and creation of a budget based on the projected operational expense of a new fire and EMS district.