FIRE DEPARTMENTS Merger will not happen -- for now

The four departments want to keep training jointly.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND -- While the idea of merging four eastern Mahoning County fire departments hasn't been completely abandoned, it's not going to happen any time soon.
Last month, firefighters, fire chiefs and township and village officials from Western Reserve Joint Fire District and the Springfield, Coitsville and New Middletown fire departments met to discuss the most efficient way to provide fire protection to those communities. The joint fire district serves Poland village and township.
One of the ideas discussed at that meeting was a consolidation of the departments.
Chip Comstock, WRJFD chief, said the chiefs of the four departments maintain a good working relationship and that the idea wasn't born out of any problems.
"We just wanted to see if there are more avenues to working together," Comstock said.
Already working together
The departments already conduct some training sessions jointly.
"We want to continue improving training and specialized drills," the chief said, calling it a task force concept.
His department's firefighters suggested addressing one issue at a time rather than pursuing a merger at this time, Comstock said.
Some of those issues include improved radio communication and recruitment and retention of personnel.
"The four chiefs have made a commitment to be open to new issues," Comstock said.
He said that consolidation isn't entirely off the table, but that it's not something that will occur soon, if ever.
The meetings among the chiefs are a way for the departments to develop strategic plans for the future. Comstock believes communities need to work together to do that.
"Your plans are affected by what your neighbors do," he said.
Fire service statistics
Of the four departments, Western Reserve serves the most residents with 15,000 people while Springfield serves the largest geographic area with 35 square miles. With 72 firefighters, Springfield is the largest department and receives about 550 calls for service per year. Western Reserve has 70 firefighters for 21 square miles and gets 725 calls per year.
With one square mile, New Middletown is the smallest department geographically of the four. It has 17 firefighters and gets 165 calls per year from its 1,700 residents.
Coitsville covers 15 square miles and its 18 firefighters serve 2,500 residents with 125 calls per year.
Both Western Reserve and Springfield have three fire stations each while Coitsville and New Middletown each have one station.
The departments have a combined annual budget of about $1.15 million.