Fire departments on-call in the college towns of Athens and Oxford are feeling the heat of tight budgets and shrinking staffs, but Bowling Green’s department has put that fire out.
A shrinking staff has ailed the Athens Fire Department for several years now — an ailment that led to decreasing performance in the field.
Every year, the department is supposed to complete 1,700 fire inspections within the city. But because it lacks a fire-prevention specialist, only 314 fire inspections have been done in the past six years.
The department has requested two to three additional firefighters and a fire-prevention specialist in the past four years, yet the department remains understaffed, Athens Fire Chief Bob Troxel said.
The department currently employs twenty-two firefighters, but they’ve been without a fire-prevention specialist since 1984.
Oxford Fire Chief John Detherage said his department is in a similar situation.
“We make about 2,300 calls a year,” Detherage said. “There are other departments around here that make less calls but have more (firefighters).”
The Oxford Fire Department has 65 part-time or volunteer firefighters but can afford to pay only four on-duty firefighters at a time.
Athens is in the same boat, being able to pay only four to be on duty in a given time period.
Athens and Oxford have similar populations with about 24,000 and 21,000, respectively, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.
Both Troxel and Detherage said the small staffs not only hinder their ability to protect citizens but also put them in danger.
“It’s a matter of safety for our firefighters,” Troxel said in a pervious interview. “If we don’t have enough men on staff, then they don’t have backup going into a fire.”
In addition to firefighters, Detherage said Oxford also needs a fire-prevention specialist — a position that has been vacant for 20 years.
“We got only four guys, and fire inspections are tough to get done,” he said, adding that the department prioritizes the buildings that are used most often.
Both Detherage and Troxel said they could fill the vacant positions if they received additional funding from their city councils.
Detherage has even petitioned the Oxford City Council multiple times for a budget increase but was denied.
But not all college-town fire departments are hurting.
Bowling Green Fire Department employs 48 firefighters with no fewer than 12 on duty at all times, Fire Chief Stephen Meredith said.
The city is home to about 30,000 people, according to the Census.
“Every department has budget problems,” Meredith said. “We are doing OK. We are maintaining a minimum staff and have not had to lay anyone off.”
jr992810@ohiou.edu
