Input sought on fire, ambulance consolidation

Howland spends more than $2 million annually for fire and ambulance services.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
HOWLAND -- Township trustees want to find out if there is interest in regionalizing fire and ambulance services in a six-township area.
Trustees have sent letters to fellow trustees in Champion, Warren, Bazetta, Vienna and Fowler townships asking them to attend a May 16 meeting at the Howland administration building.
"It's a starting point," Darlene St. George, Howland administrator, said Thursday. "I don't know who's interested and who's not."
Why?
Regionalization needs to be discussed, St. George said, because of the high cost of maintaining fire and emergency medical services for not only Howland but other communities as well.
In Howland, fire protection cost $1,642,415 in 2005 and ambulance service, $471,392.
"And that's just one community," St. George added.
Dispatching for the six townships isn't an issue, she explained, because all are members of the Trumbull County 911 Center. The townships all have common borders.
Sharing of equipment and services would reduce costs. Also, the townships would be able to apply for government grants as a region, she noted.
Fire chiefs say they are interested in discussing a regional approach, but point out that equipment is already shared.
Matthew Balut, acting chief of the Champion Fire Department, said regionalizing has been discussed previously and admits there are financial benefits.
Hurdle
But Balut said there is a hurdle to the issue: "Everybody wants their own little kingdom."
He noted that Champion provides mutual aid to other communities. His department uses the aerial truck from Bazetta when needed.
At the same time, he said, Champion's tanker truck responds to emergencies in surrounding communities. It's been used as far away as Cleveland.
Kenneth Schick, fire chief in Warren Township, agrees with Balut that regionalization has been previously discussed.
The township uses special equipment from the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna to battle oil fires and uses Howland or Lordstown's aerial truck for higher structures fire, Schick said.
Nonetheless, Schick said he wants to discuss regionalism with other communities.
yovich@vindy.com