Handling emergencies at Canfield Fair is big team effort

CANFIELD

Eight days.

Twelve-hour shifts.

Hundreds of calls, for everything from bee stings to heart attacks.

That’s life at the Canfield Fair for the fire, medical and emergency service workers who staff it – many voluntarily.

“We basically are a city within a city,” said Cardinal Joint Fire District Capt. Rob Tieche, who oversees emergency medical services for the district. “We are responsible normally for the entire fire district, but during the fair, we have to set up an entirely separate operation.”

Here’s how that works: The CJFD leads the effort and provides staff members, with help from many other agencies.

“It’s a big concerted effort, not only of the fair board, but of the Mahoning County fire departments. The Mahoning County fire departments sign up to do 12-hour shifts over the course of the fair,” said fair board president Andy Frost Jr., director of the fire and EMS, Red Cross, and medical divisions of the fair.

Preparations – during which workers must bring in all of the needed equipment, vehicles and medications – begin about a month before the fair begins.

Then, the week of the fair, fire-district workers must inspect some 400 things at the fairgrounds, including each and every stand.

Read more about the operation in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.