Recordpub.com - Communities in Portage find FireCom alternatives: Ravenna Twp. to end fire dispatch service

By Diane Smith

Record-Courier staff writer

In Deerfield, the fire chief is weighing a text paging system, where emergency calls would be forwarded to a dispatch center in Virginia.

In Paris, trustees are considering biting the bullet and signing a contract that would see the township paying more than twice what it pays now for dispatching service now.

And Palmyra and Edinburg townships are considering an undisclosed other option — and may invite others to come along with them.

FireCom, once an emergency dispatching powerhouse that sent emergency help to most of the townships and villages in Portage County, will soon be a relic of the past. Already, most of its members have found alternatives in Kent, Mantua, Stark County and Stow.

That leaves a handful of townships, most of them in the southeastern end of the county, who are scrambling to make sure somebody is around to answer their emergency calls when Ravenna Township pulls the plug on its dispatch center at the end of December.

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Hiram will soon became the latest community to exit the FireCom system. The village police department, as well as the fire department that serves both the village and township, will have all calls dispatched by the Mantua Police Department starting in January.

Mantua Mayor Donna Hawkins said the one-year contract begins Jan. 1 and will be renewed annually. The cost to Hiram is $29,756.25 per year.

She said the two communities had been in discussions for some time about working together because of their proximity to one another.

Hiram Mayor Lou Bertrand said the village is moving on because the Mantua department provides more stability than FireCom.

“You have life and death issues in fire and EMS,” he said. “We just had a death here. I would be very supportive of countywide dispatch for the entire region. You can’t be parochial anymore.”

Mantua Police Chief Harry Buchert said because Hiram is within the village’s “line of sight,” telecommunications issues will be easier.

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Hiram is not the first community to bail from FireCom.

In recent months, Brimfield has transferred its dispatch service to Kent State University, which already dispatched calls for its police department.

Atwater transferred to Cencom, a dispatching service out of Stark County.

Randolph, meanwhile, transferred its service to the city of Stow. Fire Chief Mike Lang said there weren’t many options available at the time, and Stow was the best option. With modern telecommunications methods, he said, the township’s proximity to Stow is irrelevant.

An added bonus is that Lang’s day job is with the Stow Fire Department.

“If there’s any issue, I can walk right over to the dispatch center if I need to,” he said.

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Ravenna Township trustees have long expressed frustration at bearing the brunt of the cost of running their dispatch center.

Trustee Bob Cherry said last year that it costs $256,949 per year to operate FireCom. Of that amount, Ravenna Township paid $182,922, which left the other nine communities a total of $74,027.

The township proposed a new rate structure which they said would distribute the cost of the service more evenly. However, after townships balked at proposed increases ranging from 150 percent to 500 percent, Ravenna Township backed away from the plan, and pursued a county-wide dispatch system.

Now, Cherry said, the township is still looking at ending the service by the end of December. The township is negotiating with Kent State University to possibly handle dispatch service, but only on behalf of itself, Brady Lake and Paris.

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Townships in the southeastern end of the county, meanwhile, are weighing their options.

Deerfield Fire Chief Miles Felmly said he is considering a text-paging system. Under the system, calls would be forwarded to a dispatcher in Virginia, who would send the information to firefighters via a text pager. If the page is not immediately answered, the next person in line is paged.

“Really, what’s the difference whether a call is answered in Virginia, or Kent State University?” he said. “It’s still a telephone line.”

Felmly said he has subscribed to the service in recent months just to test it, and has placed more than 100 calls, which were always answered promptly. Sometimes, he purposely garbled his message or gave bad addresses just to see how the dispatchers handled it.

The only downside, he said, is that if firefighters have a question, it can be difficult to reach a live person in Virginia to find out what the caller said.

Tim Paulus, chief of the Edinburg and Palmyra fire departments, said Edinburg Trustees will be hosting a public meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the town hall. The meeting will be open to any fire department that belongs to FireCom.

Edinburg Trustee Tom Repcik said the township is weighing various options.

“We’ve gotten some numbers from Kent State,” he said. “We haven’t made any commitment yet. It’s three times what we’re paying now. We’re not too pleased with that.”

Paris Trustee Tom Smith said the township is weighing its options, including a possible contract with Kent State University.

23.	Posted by Firefighter7 October 21, 2009
	Ridiculous Posting...Which part? We will start from the beginning. Without naming names on a public website, I used the word officers as a whole. I never specified or singled out any officer. I simply stated that the officers at present, according to the roster posted on the department's website, haven't any prior officer experience. Moreover, they do not have officer training. I will not deny that some officers have done a decent job with the budget and finance aspect of the Fire Department. I am not criticizing the education levels of any specific officer; rather I am referring to fire officer training. Since we are, "getting the facts right," I maintain this to be true and accurate. Perhaps I have exposed an embarrassing fact? I care not. If it offends you Student 49, I encourage you to send to your officers the link www.ohiofireacademy.com so they may be trained properly. Secondly, you must have either a novice approach to this subject, or have poor memory. With the endless amount of information that you seem to have obtained regarding the interworkings of the Fire Department, I trust that your approach is qualified. Leaving only a short memory span. Check for yourself Student 49, you will find that several--more than five that I can recall--paramedics have left the Fire Department within the past two years alone. I will not name names unless you require such proof to ensure that your "facts" aren't skewed. Or maybe, I have exposed the type of personal dislike mentioned in my prior post...after all you could only recall one? Iregardless, the fact remains true. Hiram Fire has let several great paramedics and officers for that matter go. For whatever reason this has taken place, it matters not. Without this level of care available 24/7...how then do you preach to the public that your levy alone will affect the safety of our loved ones!? Far too many EMS calls are answered without paramedics. Are you presuming that people only will experience Sudden Cardiac Arrest during the hours of 0800-1600? Let's have a look at neighboring communities; Mantua is staffed with at least one paramedic at all times without failure. Community ambulance is also staffed with one paramedic minimum 24/7. Certainly you cannot find fault in the above, as it is stated in your contract with Hiram Township. Your job is to ensure that the residents of your community are safe during both fire and EMS emergencies. You have failed to maintain that responsibility. I am aware that budget restraints are a problem, and I am aware that you do not have the staffing to place this level of care on shift 24/7. Nevertheless, your apparent disregard for the community's safety is exhibited by the forced or elective dismissal of qualified persons. Student 49, I urge you to reconsider your outlook as it clearly displays your frustration and personal dislike for other forum members who you presume to be certain people. I have avoided bringing specific people and instances into this forum as a courtesy. I chose not to express my dislike for certain individuals, rather to state facts that can be obtained by a simple public records request. Each of which I find appalling. Lastly, I encourage you to ponder the following. If all of the bells and whistles are shined to a pristine finish, all the floors are swept and tidy, and everything is in its place, what is all of this without a group of dedicated persons to respond? NOTHING! IN FACT IT IS "RIDICULOUS"! To be frank, I am not angered by your statements, I am saddened. I do not know if you are a member of the department, but if you are, remember, it isn't you that suffers, it is everyone else's mom or dad, grandmother or grandfather that is suffering from your disregard for their safety to satisfy your personal vendettas. It is fact, it is ridiculous, and it is sad.

22.	Posted by student 49 October 20, 2009
	Ok. so lets break this down. WALKABOUT44234 you have your points and reasons, since you and Happieroutofhiram have actual thoughts and opinions I will try to respond to the two of you. We could sit here all day and go back and forth about who is wrong. In the past yes the Dept has been plagued with interesting leadership to say the least. But because of that, it has taken the current ranking officers in Hiram time rebuild allot of what was lost in the ways of relationships with other FD's, and most importantly get the financial situation back up to par. You can second guess all you want but please trust me the Fire Dept is allot better off financially then it used to be. WALKABOUT44234 you chose to express your opinion on a political point, and when someone chose to question your point you got defensive, making threats about the levy, if you want to post your thoughts, expect a reaction. Ok let's talk about the levy, there are some people who will just never vote for it because they feel they were wronged at some point for whatever reason. But since this levy is an operations levy (meaning the day to day running of the FD) and not a equipment levy or building levy, it could effect the safety of your loved ones and homes if not passed. The levy itself would be a good discussion topic on this site. ok PC 911 Dispatcher I am not even going to reply to you a comment like "Student 49 got schooled!!!" is just funny and sad, I really do hope you are as young as that post makes you sound. Let's not even begin to try and figure out who is who on this site, Come on!! Anybody who knows a little about the FD know who I am and it is obvious who some of you are. I don't want to get to long winded because I am looking forward to some replies and to start to get some of the facts right, but i will say this, It is true that the FD lost some members, and I can say that for one I do miss some of them, but it is important to remember that there are 2 sides to everything and some people left on there own but chose to put it on the FD. And as far as the ridiculous postings of Firefighter7, I remember only 1 non-administrator Paramedic that has left the FD, and for those of you who care it was beneficial for the Hiram community to have that paramedic go elsewhere.

21.	Posted by Firefighter7 October 20, 2009
	Lets start with the issue of FireCom. It's a real shame to see what has become of this place. I really haven't anything further to say about it. I just know that there are some good dispatchers (key word is some) that work there and I feel bad for them and their families. They too become part of the unemployment line. Moreover, I feel aweful for the many municipalities that are left in the dark with only poor options at best. The only truly good option is the county dispatch center which will never happen because the chiefs do not like to play nice in the sandbox together. Nevertheless, best of luck to every department and community. On to Hiram Fire Department... So many hateful words being thrown around. This is likely a result of the mismanagement that the department is plagued with. I will be the first to admit, I truly believe that there are some stellar officers associated with the department. In fact, I am quite good friends with several of them. However, there are some that leave much to be desired. It is a shame knowing the caliber of people they have forced out of their job as a result of a personal dislikes. The John Deere Gator...Great idea, wrong place. Hiram doesn't need a gator when neighboring Garrettsville & Windham have fully equiped gators. No medbed you say?(EMS bed that can be placed in the bed of the gator) Consider the county EMA. They have just that. Another gator with a MEDBED. Lastly, the actions you have witnessed out of Hiram Fire Department--though shamefull at times--are to be expected. Every officer they have in place, to my knowledge, has never had any formal officer training, and/or experience. The officers they had with experience,(keyword had) they forced out. Along with several other great firefighters and paramedics. I encourage you to visit the Fire Department's website and take a gaze at the staffing. Then put in a public records request to find out how many calls a paramedic is on. FEW. Let's face it people, oxygen alone from an EMT will not save someones life when they are in cardiac arrest. Drug therapy from a licensed paramedic could...just a thought. Should have kept a few more of them around eh? Be safe everyone!