Suburbs Challenge Ohio Departments

People flock to the suburbs where they think they're getting everything -- safer streets, better schools, state of the art recreation centers everything except a full-time fire department.

5 On Your Side investigator Ron Regan has learned the rapid growth of suburbs has left hundreds of thousands of homes vulnerable to fire.

"People see a building and see a facility and assume that people are there and ready to respond," said Gary Tockle with the National Fire Protection Association.

Many of Northeast Ohio's fastest growing suburbs, including Medina (10:25 average response time), Sheffield Township (6:58 average response time) and Westfield Township (10:00 average response time) all have volunteer fire departments, and you get what you're willing to pay for, Regan reported.

The Problem is that many communities say they don't have enough money to hire full-time firefighters and build more stations closer to expanding subdivisions.

"Typically, there is no one at our fire station when the call comes in. That's a little bit different, a lot different, than a full-time department who have people there ready to respond immediately, so we lose time," said Medina Fire Chief Bill Herthneck.

To find out how important the time volunteer fire departments lose, 5 On Your Side teamed up with local firefighters to show what happens inside a fire.

An abandoned home on the west side was donated to teach firefighters how quickly fire spreads.

Even a small flame can quickly burn out of control, experts said.

In just a few minutes, temperatures in a fire can hit 600 degrees. And in less than 5 minutes, the room will literally explode in fire in what firefighters call a "flashover."

But if it were a real fire, how quickly would help arrive?

Regan's investigation reviewed more than 140 fire departments all across northeast Ohio to see how long it takes them to respond.

"That's the one thing we didn't even think about. How long the response time would be," said Herthneck.

Regan said every minute a fire burns it doubles in size.

In Medina, Don Doss's home caught fire last year.

"That smoke was a killer. I mean it was so dense when I came in through the front door, I could see only the first foot of the floor," Doss said.

The fire department is less than a mile away. Regan said it took him 90 seconds to get there. But it was a full 16 minutes for firefighters.

If residents were sleeping, Regan said, smoke could have killed them.

The National Fire Protection Association develops fire standards used across the country.

Tockle spoke to NewsChannel5 from Boston.

"The 6-minute total response time is extremely important," Tockle said.

He said that time limit is important because half of all fires are confined to just one room in those 6 minutes.

But 65 percent of departments nationwide and hundreds in Ohio won't make it in that time.

NewsChannel5's investigation reviewed response times for every department in six counties and found huge discrepancies.

In Parma Heights, response time is less than 3 minutes. In Gates Mills it is more than 7 minutes. And in some neighborhoods it takes up to 12 minutes.

In fact, Regan found 74 departments that failed to meet the 6-minute goal, including all of Geauga County, most of Medina County, two-thirds of Lorain County, more than half of Summit County and nearly 40 per cent of Lake County. Seventeen percent failed in Cuyahoga County.

However, Regan said when a house is on fire every second counts.

"We didn't know what took them so long other than it is a volunteer department. Ten minutes is an eternity when you watching your house burn. You're watching smoke. It's forever," Tockle said.

Regan suggests you take these 5 Questions to your local fire chief.