SULLIVAN – About four dozen residents packed the community room of the Sullivan Volunteer Fire Department for a meeting of the Sullivan Township Trustees Monday evening.
Many expressed safety concerns and questioned the trustees’ Aug. 5 decision to place six firefighters on leave pending an investigation.
On Aug. 5, trustees voted 2-1 to place Tab Bloom, Erica Bloom, Jeremy Brant, Denise Herte, Jason Herte and Colby Water on leave. At the same time, the trustees hired attorney Jennifer Arnold to investigate allegations of improper tapping of a fire hydrant, insubordination and derogatory comments made on social media.
Trustee Douglas Campbell voted against the measure, saying that taking many firefighters and EMS personnel out of the rotation would put people in danger. Trustees Duane Jenkins and Glen Goff Sr. voted for the resolution, saying their legal counsel from the Ashland County Prosecutor’s office advised them to follow a precedent set by a prior administration in another case in which a firefighter was investigated.
Without the six individuals who remain on leave, the volunteer department is left with eight firefighters, two paramedics, two emergency medical technicians and three emergency medical responders. EMRs cannot transport patients to the hospital and can only provide emergency care while waiting for additional EMS resources to arrive.
The trustees acknowledged several of the department’s remaining volunteers are often unable to respond to calls during their regular day jobs.
That uncertainty comes with the territory for a volunteer department, Goff said.
“There is no guarantee that those people are going to be able to help you,” he said. “It’s a false sense of security because they can only do so much. They are not sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring or the buzzer to go off.”
As a result of the reduced number of first responders in the department, the township is now relying more heavily on mutual aid, or help from neighboring departments.
Though mutual aid is typically only called if the department is unable to respond after three tones from dispatch or if additional manpower is needed, dispatchers are now automatically toning mutual aid for all calls in Sullivan.
Jenkins argued this automatic mutual aid setup is nothing new as the department operated this way for several years in the past.
Meanwhile, representatives from the Polk Jackson Perry Fire Department said when their department gets frequent mutual aid calls to Sullivan, it reduces the department’s ability to respond to emergencies in its own jurisdiction.
“If we’re going to be taking most of your calls, that is something new and it’s a problem,” said Polk Fire Chief Matt Spaniel.
Spaniel also expressed frustration about having heard about the change from dispatchers rather than from Sullivan Township trustees or the Sullivan Fire Department.
In response to a resident’s question about the cost of the investigation, trustee Duane Jenkins said Monday he expects Arnold to work on the case for 20 to 25 hours at a rate of $185 for a total of $3,700 to $4,625. Trustees said they could not give an estimated timeline for how long the investigation will take.
The trustees released the following statement, which was placed on the township’s website:
The next meeting of the Sullivan Township Trustees has been moved to 6 p.m. Tuesday Sept. 3, because that Monday is Labor Day.
