SIDNEY — The Sidney Department of Fire & Emergency Services experienced a large increase in activity in 2017.
“During the past year, the Department responded to 4263 calls for service, which is 4.49 percent increase from the 2016 levels, a 10.58 percent increase from 2015 – and the highest volume of calls in Department history,” said Fire Chief Bradley S. Jones. “There were 3,142 EMS calls and 1,121 fire calls. Those fires resulted in zero civilian injuries, zero fatalities, and one firefighter injury; and accounted for fire losses totaling $1,242,410.”
His report continues:
The Fire Prevention Division also experienced a busy year, performing 574 fire safety inspections. The division was involved in 14 fire investigations, with four in our township areas of response and 10 within the city of Sidney. This is a decrease from 24 fire investigations in 2016. Preventing fires and encouraging save practices are two key components of the division. Over 5,700 youth and adults were served with 120 instructional programs in fire safety, fire extinguisher usage, and educational fire safety programs given annually in all public and parochial schools in grades pre-K to fifth-grade. Our most current topic is “Sleeping with your door closed.”
With over 6,800 total man-hours, fire personnel continued in-service training with classes: Cardiac, Geriatric and Pediatric Protocol, Trauma, 12-Lead EKG, SCBA, Pediatric advanced life support (PALS), and other EMS courses. Fire training included: pump operations, general hose, and technical rescue areas including ice rescue, river rescue, swiftwater, trench rescue, rope rescue, vehicle/machinery rescue, hazmat operations, grain bin extrication and confined space. Personnel attended classes outside the department for Hazmat IQ, Fire Officer I and Fire Officer II, Fire Instructor, Fire Inspector, Cadaver Lab, Basic Origin and Case and CAMEO program training classes.
In August, SFD was proud to present world renowned speaker Gordon Graham, who held a informative yet whimsical presentation at Edison Community College. Firefighters and business personnel from all over the area were in attendance. The presentation was a success. The main topic focused on learning critical points pertaining to risk management.
We had two firefighters retire this past year: firefighter Ken Girod, who retired with over 29 years of service, and firefighter John Duncum, who retired with over 24 years of service. With these retirements, we welcomed firefighter Quinten Pence to the Department on Jan. 30.
In April, Jordan Grogean, a 5-year member of the department, was named the 2016 Firefighter of the Year.
The department helped sponsor the 36th Midwestern Ohio Fire Investigators Seminar in April, and celebrated Fire Prevention month in October. The Nancy Adams Training Center was utilized multiple times for regional training included but not limited to: EMS certification training, grain bin rescue training, & firefighter certification.
In 2018, the department looks forward to continuing to serve the community.
