Valley fire departments receive grants from Department of Homeland Security

[yfdgricker]

Valley fire departments receive grants from Department of Homeland Security
Story from the WFMJ TV21 Web Site on 2/7/2010.

OHIO - Five Valley fire departments are among 32 in Ohio that will be getting a share of 1.8 million dollars in grants from the Department of Homeland Security.

In Trumbull County, Bazetta will receive more than 38-thousand dollars, Niles more than 48- thousand and Johnston nearly 33-thousand.

In Mahoning County, Austintown is getting 110-thousand dollars.

In Columbiana County, the West Point Fire Departement is getting 55-thousand dollars.

[wfd44]

WFD of Warren Ohio has been told they will receive 300,000 dollars for vehicle emissions  exhaust systems for all stations and 36 new up-to-date scba for the  dept. One snag.  Also a 10% matching sum must be in place. No word from whence that shall be forthcoming.

And then we have a brilliant editor at the local tabloid editorializing on matters he ought not to owing to  the profound ignorance of the topic at hand saying the city should permanently downsize the FD to 50 men from a former 75. I wote a cutting and insulting reply for these pages and NOT for the Trib; not wanting to dignify their editorial by replying directly to them; but you can get the flavor of the knee-jerk reaction I felt.


''Warren Fire Chief Ken Nussle said he doesn't know why his department had fewer calls in 2009 than in 2008.

We don't know either, but logically this probably has something to do with a building demolition program, reduction in population and drop in employment. There are fewer structures to burn and fewer people to light them on fire, accidentally or otherwise.''-quote Tribune Chronicle editorial Jan 25, 2010

Youngstown had a population of 180,000 in 1930.At 83,000 in 2000AD the number of fires should have decreased sigificantly.Camden New Jersey likewise should be registering a significant reduction. Lawrence,Mass the hub of textile mills  during yeasteryear would likewise have fewer fires with the loss of industry and concommitant reduction in employees and general population.The exact opposite is true in all of the aforementioned cities!

The City of Warren hired professional fire dept consultants  in 1985 at 30,000  dollars to study these fire related staffing/fire station  issues back then.They found the then staffing inadequate and proposed a new east end station. Other cities have likewise retained fire consulting firms to undertake vast studies employing complicated mathematical equations that would defy any Algebra I student. Fewer people fewer fires? Fire responses and fires are not two ways of saying the same thing. A reduction in responses is exactly that. Working fires are a separate category.A demolition program  exists; HOWEVER that  would require the erroneous supposition that the blight that has occured to those now demolished buildings has forever ceased and all of the physical structures yet remaining will indefinitely remain intact and not age or be abandoned resulting in yet more dilapidation and subsequent destruction by fire.
 
Substations is a misnomer. There is nothing sub when it is your  house your kid that is at risk. Fire stations are not distributed by accident
but are there for a reason and according to real proven fire science.
The stations are found in neighborhoods to reduce the time that elapses between the report of an incident and the arrival of fire units to the scene. A formula set by ISO, the arm of the fire insurance industry mandates
the number and location of fire suppression units that need to be in place
to grade a community on its fire fighting preparedness and to determine
the appropriate fire insurance premiums for both business and residential clientele. Factors taken into consideration include the type and number of occupancies; mercantile versus residential; the density of the building distribution, whether very dense in some areas and less so in others;
the possibilty of conflagration; water supply,staffing levels able to respond within 4 minutes of receipt of alarm; total firefighting capability in terms of maximum staff and apparatus and equipment; availabilty of outside assistance when multiple incidents occur.To conclude that a trend in reduction of fires/incidents is legit requires more than a few years of decline because fire incidents increase/decrease randomly and cyclically in a manner that defies logic and catches the unwary offguard. So let's allow the pros to make the determinations on what is needed to adequately protect life AND PROPERTY in Warren.

Maybe the editor should worry about business matters. According to the logic he has cited namely less people less fire less firefighters; then the same logic ought to hold true: less people less newspapers less editors---logically speaking!!!! heehaw

[wfd44]

Fire Department has served City of Warren proudly for many years
POSTED: February 9, 2010
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DEAR EDITOR:

The number of responses by the Warren City Fire Department were down but the number of structure fires remains consistent over the past 20 years. The thorough, unbiased analysis of the Warren City Fire Department was performed in 2000 and indicated that the City of Warren needs a minimum of four fire stations.

The deployment of personnel is performed after a review of National Fire Protection Standards that contain time requirements that influence the delivery of fire services. These same standards specify a minimum of four members on any apparatus. A rapid response time is one of the critical factors in delivery of services and subsequent emergency abatement.

Essentially, each community must decide the desired response capability as well as acceptable loss. A former fire chief once uttered the phrase ''there is no acceptable loss within the City of Warren.'' We still live by that phrase at the Warren City Fire Department. Time is the critical element when an emergency is reported. Fire growth can expand at many times its volume per minute.

The citizens of Warren voted on three separate occasions since 2001 to support their safety. Fewer calls does not equate to fewer fires. The Insurance Services Office establishes a rating system for all cities across the country to determine the appropriate insurance premiums for industry, business and residential settings. Their rating system includes a formula for apparatus, personnel, stations, response times, training, alarm systems, water supply, condition of hydrants and deployment of personnel. The number of firefighters, apparatus, equipment, fire flow, and station locations are not arbitrary in nature. Our No. 1 priority is safeguarding and preserving life and property against the elements of fire and disaster.

There are additional programs within the Fire Department that had to be eliminated due to the loss of 23 firefighters. The Juvenile Fire Setters Program and Junior Fire Marshals Program were eliminated due to personnel reduction. These programs are critical to early education of our children to prevent fires from occurring.

The Fire Department also offers many other services than just fire suppression. These services include hazardous material abatement, high angle rescue, confined space rescue, auto lockout, carbon monoxide calls and bat removals, just to name a few. The Warren City Fire Department has served the City of Warren proudly since 1836.

Ken Nussle

Fire Chief

City of Warren