Heath fire chief increases minimum number of on-duty firefighters required to deploy fire trucks

A new order from Heath Fire Department Chief Warren McCord has upped the minimum number of on-duty firefighters required to deploy fire trucks in the city.

The new directive, issued in August and presented to the Heath City Council Safety Committee on Monday, Sept. 21, says “no primary fire-suppression apparatus shall be placed in service or dispatched as a primary suppression resource with fewer than three (3) qualified on-duty personnel.”

McCord says in the directive that the fire department must require at least three firefighters on duty to operate a fire truck. If there are fewer than three on duty, the department will consider the truck out of service, and the station will contact Licking County Regional Dispatch to respond to the call.

In the past, the Heath Fire Department required only five firefighters on duty, with three working at Station 51 on Heath Road and two at Station 52 on Blackfoot Trail. With only two firefighters on duty at Station 52, they couldn’t use the fire engine.

“On those days in particular … we do not have Engine 52 in service,” McCord said. “We did not have an engine in service on the east side of the city.”

Now, the fire department will require a minimum of six firefighters on duty. That way, both stations 51 and 52 can dispatch their fire engines.

Kenny Mills, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2930 — which represents Heath firefighters — said union members “strongly support” the measure.

“For years, our members have raised concerns about the safety of routinely operating primary fire apparatus with only two firefighters,” Mills wrote in a statement of support he shared at the Heath meeting. “This directive directly addresses that concern… At its core, this is about firefighter safety and public safety.”

“Three firefighters is not being presented as adequate or optimal staffing,” Mills said. “It is an interim minimum intended to address an identified operational safety concern. The directive also recognizes four-person staffing on primary fire apparatus as the long-term objective.”

Mills said that members of the 2930 want to establish a safer baseline for the service of these fire apparatuses that are often inadequately staffed, even if sometimes complying with this directive means an apparatus cannot be placed in service because three personnel are not available to properly staff it.

“Public safety decisions should not be based on whether a staffing problem is convenient to acknowledge,” Mills said. “They should be based on what provides the safest, most reliable, and most effective emergency service for both our firefighters and the community they serve.”

He emphasized that he hopes there will be further progress made in the future as well.

“Going forward, we hope the discussion does not become about how to work around the safety standard, but rather how to provide the staffing necessary to consistently meet it and continue improving the level of service provided to our community,” Mills said. “For a city of progress, continued progress in public safety should be something our citizens can take pride in.”

Heath resident Margo Mayberry spoke in favor of the directive during the fire safety meeting.

“I have never met such dedicated and determined people to serve their community as I have with the people I’ve interfaced with in the fire department and the fire chief,” Mayberry said. “Can you at least give the fire chief some help and an assistant fire chief and some additional personnel to support the city residents of Heath?”

Heath Mayor Mark Johns said he was in support of the directive and that he had not seen anyone on the council opposing it.

“I certainly had no heartburn over the directive being issued,” Johns said. “You all as council members have had this information now for a month or so, maybe not quite. I haven’t heard from any of you expressing displeasure or a lack of understanding the perspective on this.”

During the Heath City Council meeting later that night, Heath City Council President Tim Kelley questioned whether the fire department really needed the staffing increase. 

“It’s not like they’re overworked or anything,” Kelley said. “The fire department works like a community fire department, as opposed to an individual fire department, and that’s the way it is.”

The Heath Fire Department, like most fire departments in Ohio, often shares its services with neighboring communities through mutual aid – meaning Heath trucks will respond to major emergencies outside of Heath city limits. Through this practice of mutual aid, Kelley said there would never be enough firefighters in Heath to improve services because they won’t ever be in the right place at the right time. 

“If we had 100 firefighters, I guarantee you we would be at mutual aid, and then we’d have a fire in Heath, and we still would not have a vehicle to go to it because we’d be somewhere else,” Kelley said.

Kelley also asked McCord to find out how many Heath Fire Department runs respond to an actual fire.

“Because this idea that we’re having all these fire runs and we need all these fire trucks, I don’t think it’s accurate,” Kelley said. “How many actual fire deaths have we had in the City of Heath in the last 10 years? If there’s no one in the house, or building, it’s almost better insurance-wise to just let the damn thing burn down and rebuild from that.” 

McCord said he doesn’t receive specific data on which runs responded to an actual fire; He would have to generate the data himself. When the “tones drop,” or a 911 signal is sent to the station, that counts as an incident regardless of the situation, McCord said. McCord also said many emergencies the fire department responds to don’t specifically require water to put out a fire, but require other solutions, such as when a building fills with smoke.   

Overall, McCord said the announcement of the directive went well.

“I think they had a positive reaction,” he said after both meetings were finished. “I think it’s an understanding reaction.”

Ella Kitchens and Maddie Luebkert write for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.

Luebkert is one of two Kirtley Mather Fellows at The Reporting Project. The fellowship in memory of Kirtley Mather, Denison Class of 1909, provides students with opportunities to engage in service for the common good.