People who live near the fire station say they’re worried about longer response times and losing the community interaction they have with the firefighters.
TOLEDO, Ohio —
Changes are coming to the Toledo Fire and Rescue Department, which is causing concern for the firefighters union and some community members.
The department is adding a new 24-hour emergency services supervisor unit to respond to emergency incidents and placing two additional medic units daily in service, TFRD Chief Allison Armstrong said in a press release on Monday.
The fire department said the two additional medic units will be in service as long as the minimum staffing of 113 Local 92 firefighters is met. This will bring the Advanced Life Support medic units staffed daily from 13 to 15.
The staffing for these ALS units will come from putting Engine 12 out of service, according to TFRD, unless daily staffing is at 117 or higher.
The department said Station 12’s district has the lowest number of total calls for service. The department said that because the station is situated between multiple train tracks in north Toledo, it can cause delays for response.
The station opened 10 years ago. Local 92’s president, Joseph Cira, said the city is placing this engine out of service as an act of retaliation because they lost in fact-finding.
The city has 18 engines and Cira said each is necessary. He said the engines are the most important rig when a building is on fire, and without those rigs, fires don’t go out.
People who live near the station said they’re worried about what would happen if it’s taken out of service.
“They’re essential workers,” Oliver Austin said. “Don’t we need our essential workers? Essentially, we do.”
Neighbors who live near the station said they have to make calls frequently.
“It’s just sad,” Donisha Toney said. “I’m praying that they don’t … There’s people’s lives at stake at certain times.”
People in the surrounding area said they deal with delays from the train tracks themselves and they’re worried about what would happen if they have to rely on stations further away.
The station’s building stands alone, but community members said the crews are part of the neighborhood.
“I love those guys over there,” Toney said. “They come and we talk and laugh.”
Shuta Holton has lived near the station for seven years and said she sees the interactions between kids and the crews.
“To see the joy the kids get from going down there visiting, walking, talking, everything with them, they can’t take that,” Holton said. “They shouldn’t take that.”
Holton said she has concerns about the response times, but also what it will mean for the community.
“This is lower community,” Holton said. “That is something that children have to see that you can be bigger than where you live at right now. To show that there are other things you can grow into, that you just don’t have to stay in your surroundings. You can level up. To take that away from these babies is crazy.”
Armstrong said these changes came out of the collective bargaining process between Local 92 and the city.
“I believe they represent a positive step forward for both our firefighters and the community we serve. By aligning resources more effectively, we can enhance safety, improve response efficiency and ensure we’re meeting the needs of our residents in the best possible way with the resources currently available,” Armstrong said in a statement.
Cira said the union is ready to fight this with any legal option available.
This article was published by Megan Hartnett on 2025-09-29 20:31:00
View Original Post
