New grant goes to area fire departments

VW independent staff/submitted information

Several area fire deparments are recipients of the new Small County Volunteer Fire Department (SCVFD) Grant that was established via House Bill 96.

Convoy Fire & EMS, Middle Point Fire Department, Scott Fire & EMS, Grover Hill Volunteer Fire Department, Paulding Fire Department, Rockford Community Fire Department, Mendon Union Fire Department, Fort Jennings Volunteer Fire Department and Ottoville Volunteer Fire Department are among 190 departments across 49 Ohio counties have been awarded a total of $7,997,960 in funding through the grant program.

Convoy, Middle Point, Scott, Grover Hill and Fort Jennings are each getting a $50,000 grant. Ottoville is getting $44,315, Mendon Union is getting $42,671, Rockford is getting $38,130, and Paulding is getting $33,429.

The nonrenewable grant was established to help the state’s small county fire departments purchase essential equipment, upgrade facilities, and enhance access to firefighting training. Legislation that created the grant defined small counties as those that have a population of 70,000 or fewer per the 2020 U.S. Census.

“These small, volunteer fire departments, many of which serve rural areas of the state are the backbone of Ohio’s fire service and the vast majority of them are working with small budgets,” State Fire Marshal Kevin Reardon said. “Thanks to the work of the legislature, this grant funding will better equip these departments to do a job that our communities rely on them to do, and that is to be there if and when an emergency strikes.”

Approximately 70 percent of Ohio’s nearly 1,200 fire departments rely on volunteers, but the number of volunteers is dropping sharply across the state as highlighted in the 2023 Governor’s Volunteer Fire Service Task Force report. From 2018 to 2021, there was a 6.5 percent decrease in the number of volunteer firefighters, meanwhile there was a nine percent increase in calls from 2018 to 2020.

The Small County Volunteer Fire Department Grant program is the latest in a series of initiatives established to support the state’s volunteer fire service at this critical time. Previous actions by the Division of State Fire Marshal include making all training and classes at the Ohio Fire Academy available free of charge for volunteers and volunteer departments; the development of a new volunteer recruitment portal where Ohioans can search for volunteer roles near them and connect directly with department leadership; and the deployment of multiple statewide media campaigns that resulted in an increase in volunteer inquiries.

In addition to this grant, the Division of State Fire Marshal provides millions in grant funding annually to the state’s fire departments through various other grant programs like the MARCS Grant, Equipment Grant, and Training and Reimbursement Grant.