ASHLAND — The Polk Jackson Perry Fire District has received a record number of calls in 2022, straining its single full-time firefighter and its volunteers, Chief Brandon Mosher said.
“We’re gonna be upward of 550, 600 calls a year. For a small area and town like this, it overwhelms your volunteers to be coming on that many calls away from home that much that they don’t get to see their families after they get home from their full -time jobs,” he said.
Help may be on the way.
In July, the fire district applied for a state grant from the Ohio First Responder Recruitment, Retention, and Resilience program that would provide funding to bolster its small workforce.
A few months later, Gov. Mike DeWine announced the district had been awarded $243,000 to hire two new full-time firefighters/paramedics, according to a press release.
The money will cover salaries and benefits of two new firefighters for a period of two years starting in early 2023, Mosher said.
With two new full-time staff members, Mosher said he hopes to have a paid firefighter in the station 24/7, which could relieve the pressure on their volunteers.
After two years, the fire district will be responsible for paying the new firefighters. The district’s board of trustees recently voted to find a way to keep the staff past the grant period, which may take the form of a new levy, Mosher said.
The grant money is part of $70 million that DeWine set aside for the state’s first responder grant program, which draws its funding from American Rescue Plan Act money the state received.
“The programming and supports funded through this grant program will support first responders’ wellness needs so they remain on the job and are there when we need them,” DeWine said in a press release.
