MOUNT VERNON — Training, staffing, and soaring equipment costs are a few of the challenges volunteer fire departments face nationwide.
In response, many volunteer departments nationally and statewide are giving way to joint fire districts. In Knox County, that number includes Miller and Morgan townships.
Miller Township and Burlington Township in Licking County will join the Homer Volunteer Fire Department under the name Homer Fire Department.
Morgan Township will join with Licking County’s Washington Township and the Village of Utica to form the County Line Joint Fire District.
Staffing is arguably the biggest catalyst behind the changes.
“The volunteer fire department is almost a thing of the past,” Homer Fire Chief Matt McElroy said. “We used to have 100 runs; now we have 400. You can’t rely on volunteers for that kind of call volume.”
“It’s a change in times.”
Morgan Township trustee troy rodeniser
Morgan Township Trustee Troy Rodeniser said the trustees did not really have any negative feedback from township residents about joining a fire district.
“I think they all know it’s about time,” he said. “I think we’re one of the last volunteer fire departments in Ohio.
“People understand that it’s something that has to happen,” he said. “Years ago, everybody worked here. They would just jump in the car and go. In town, the business owners used to respond. Now they all work in Columbus or somewhere.
“It’s a change in times.”
Miller Township
For Miller and Burlington townships, joining the Homer department was not sudden.
“We had conversations between the townships and the fire department probably one-and-a-half to two years before we got to the point of actually voting to join the fire department,” Burlington Township Trustee Jeff Patton said at July’s fire board meeting.
“We contracted with Homer Volunteer Fire Department,” said Miller Township Trustee Jason Row. “We were having trouble getting volunteers.”
“There is so much more training required of volunteers,” Patton added. “We came up with they need to be paid some way, then it led to we need to form a fire district.
“The run volume was increasing, and it was just too much for someone who was willing to volunteer their time.”
The department went to paid staffing in October 2020: Five days a week, eight hours a day. In February, it went to seven days a week, 12 hours a day, paid staffing.
“Our goal is to maintain 12 hours, seven days a week staffing,” Patton, who chairs the fire board, said. “We used carryover [money] from the fire department and from both townships.”
Matt McElroy started as fire chief on June 1.
The department currently has a roster of 24. Sixteen are paid part-time and volunteers; eight are strictly volunteers. Two people staff the 12-hour daytime shift.
“Eventually we’d like to have more people and volunteer coverage,” McElroy said. “Intel is going to be a huge thing for us.”
“And the solar panels will be a big thing for Miller Township,” Row added.
“When a lot of people hear ‘fire district,’ they think we have an interest in getting bigger,” McElroy said. “Our interest right now is taking care of our two townships.”
Morgan Township
The County Line Joint Fire District will become official on Jan. 1, 2024.
“Right now we are getting all of the permits and all of the things we need to become a fire district,” explained Trustee Rodeniser.
The township currently contracts with the Utica Volunteer Fire Department and Utica EMS for coverage. After Jan. 1, they will be one department.
“[The fire district] is something that probably needed to be done since the start,” Rodeniser said. “We pay for squad, but they are not allowed to run on the [fire] trucks. The fire department is volunteers, so during the day some of them may be at work.”
“EMS still will be 24/7,” Trustee Rod Booth said. “[For fire], we rely on mutual aid a lot.
“Both departments have unique problems; hopefully, this will solve some of them,” he continued. “Before, we had a contract. Now the taxpayers of the district will be part owners.”
EMS is 24/7 paid staffing with two on each shift. Booth said the district might have to hire at least one more person per shift, but the board has not finalized the details.
“Our plans are to have the fire truck going out at the same time,” he said.
Booth and Rodeniser acknowledged it will cost more to fund the additional personnel, but as Booth pointed out, “it was going to be more if we didn’t [join the fire district], too.”
He noted that becoming a fire district will open the door for grant funding.
“As a private entity, you’re not eligible for grant funding,” he explained.
The fire board hired Robert Homman as fire chief in July. A Morgan Township resident, Homman has 25-plus years in the fire service. He currently is with the Whitehall Division of Fire.
Funding
Miller Township currently has two levies (1.4-mill and 1.2-mill) for fire and EMS. Burlington has a 3.1-mill levy.
When officials complete the paperwork, the Homer Fire Department will put on a 5-mill levy in each township.
“It will have to pass the majority of the two townships,” Patton said.
“We believe we have the equipment and the facility. The big thing is going to be help,” Row said.
Morgan Township funds its fire coverage through a 1.5-mill levy. It has two for EMS: 0.8-mill and 1.75-mill.
The levies generate about $33,400 for fire and $56,400 for EMS.
The fire district plans to put a levy on the ballot in May 2024, but it has not yet decided on the millage.
Before the levy goes on, the Village of Utica, Washington Township, and Morgan Township will hold meetings to inform the community.
“Both townships will continue to fund with their levies until the district levy goes into effect. Once the district levy goes into effect, our levies will be canceled out,” Morgan Trustee Booth said.