In their annual report, the Athens Fire Department once again requested that the city move forward with building a new, centralized department or at least take steps to upgrade the existing 50-year-old buildings.
Despite numerous requests for a new, centralized fire department for the past eight years, the Athens Fire Department’s requests have fallen on deaf ears.
In its annual report, the department once again asked that the city move forward with building a new, centralized department or at least take steps to upgrade the existing 50-year-old buildings.
According to previous Post reports, the city denied AFD’s requests since 2007 due to lack of funding.
Due to the building’s state of disrepair, the city had to perform emergency repairs on AFD’s headquarters, 61 Columbus Rd., in 2014 to replace the supports in the front walls. The repairs totalled $93,000, though they were only slated to cost about $63,000, according to previous Post reports.
Over the past ten years, the city spent over $540,000 on station maintenance, the report said.
Repairs in 2015 are projected to cost $60,000 and include kitchen upgrades and new windows, according to the annual report. It also added that Station 2 was in need of maintenance as well.
Along with repairs to the station houses themselves, the report also said the department’s oldest active pumper is 24 years old and needs to be replaced.
The city purchased a new pumper truck in 2014 to support its fleet. The pumper truck cost about $580,000, according to previous Post reports.
The replacement of the oldest truck is scheduled for July 2015, and its approximate cost will be $600,000. In 2014, the department spent a total of $28,198 on vehicle repairs.
The annual report had a list of concerns from the firefighters, which stated certain factors that limit the firefighters from doing their job to the fullest extent. One of those concerns is the growing student and Athens resident population.
The report also requested the addition of a full-time fire inspector to assist with the biannual inspections.
There are currently 850 commercial properties in Athens, and the report said as that number increases, the necessary biannual fire inspections required by Ohio law are slowed down. The report said a full-time fire inspector or Reserve Firefighter program will help lessen this problem.
The department said they cannot “continue to operate with inadequate staffing levels without placing the firefighters and the citizens of Athens in jeopardy.”
The report added the city had failed to replace the firefighters who leave the department. According to the report, two positions have been open since March of 2014.
The positions are scheduled to be filled by July.
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