Increased Growth Makes Ohio Firefighter Response Tough

The golden response time for fire crews responding to an emergency is five minutes. But reaching areas in Central Ohio with explosive housing growth is tough for fire crews. The National Fire Data Center said crews respond to emergency calls within 5 minutes about 50 percent of the time, NBC 4's Cabot Rea reported. In Central Ohio, landlocked urban areas have a response time very close to that average, but the challenge lies in suburban and rural areas where growth is outpacing firehouse development. This past January, Carole King woke up after hearing screams. One of her neighbors had noticed that a fire was spreading through their Millersport neighborhood. Firefighters arrived to battle the blaze, but King said it took longer than expected for crews to arrive. "[It took] probably 10 minutes at most," King said. "They should have been here in three to five." Millersport Fire officials said their department does the best it can, but they also said having a volunteer fire department makes it tough. "Right now, it we were to get a call in the middle of the day, most of our firefighters are working full-time jobs, said Millersport fire Lt. Jerry Murphy. "We don't have those people around." According to fire officials, the difference between moderate damage and total loss isn't measured in minutes, but rather seconds. And in just 30 seconds, a fire can double in size, Rea reported. Millersport isn't the only area to experience fire response issues. In Madison Township, officials have dealt with huge expansion near Canal Winchester and in the area near Rickenbacker Air Base. Madison Township fire officials said in some areas, fire response time has slowed by nearly a minute since 2001. The growth requires a team effort of local fire departments to make up for the time, Rea reported. "That is an issue that the residents and the folks moving into those areas need to take a look at," said Madison Township assistant Fire Chief Bob Bates. Bates said that people need to be aware that some of those departments in the outlying areas may not be staffed 24 hours a day. "Thats going to lead to the increase in response times," he said. Near Dublin, firefighters rely on mutual service to cover far corners of their coverage area, Rea reported. Washington Township Fire Chief Allen Woo said his department is responsible for the rapidly growing Dublin area. He said that getting his fire crews to some areas would take more than 5 minutes. "If you ask me to get all Washington Township fire equipment there, you could be looking at a 10-minute response time," Woo said. According to Woo, citizens need to understand the factors that play a part in response time. "I think residents need to ultimately make a decision about what kind of services they want," Woo said. "If you want to maintain that level of service, it takes money to do that." Watch NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com for additional information.