At the January 18 meeting, Springfield Township Fire Department battalion chief Jon Ziehr presented the December fire report to the trustees.
There were 439 calls for service last month in the areas served by the township which include the Village of Holland and Harding, Spencer, Springfield and Swanton townships.
Of those, Springfield had the most, 336, followed by Holland, 45; Spencer Township, 27; Swanton Township, 15 and Harding Township, five.
The department also responded to mutual/auto aid calls for Sylvania Township, six; Monclova Township, two, and Maumee, Swanton and Toledo, one each.
Handling the greatest volume of calls was Station 51 at McCord Road, 233. Station 53 at Garden Road responded to 111 calls and the Frankford Road station, 95.
The majority of calls were EMS, 307, followed by service calls, 55; assists, 38; false alarms, 18; hazardous materials, 13, and fire, eight.
Last month, they conducted 14 inspections, including re-inspections, five; state, three; final, two, and annual, new business, fire alarm, and special, one apiece.
In addition, five site plans were reviewed and approved for Midwest Vascular, 7100 Orchard Centre Drive, fire alarm; Ralphie’s, 6609 Airport Highway, fire alarm; Quality Care Products, 6920 Hall Street, generator; Skecher’s, 1440 Spring Meadows Drive, new business, and Brookwood Landscaping, 10300 Geiser Road, new construction.
Three investigations were conducted for structure fires with the causes undetermined. The fires were at 118 West Woodstock, living room, damage estimate, $17,000; 2757 Byrnwyck West, garage, $120,000 and 950 Albon Road, garage, $250,000.
In other fire department business, the battalion chief:
•Pointed out the omicron variant of COVID-19 has impacted the department as it has other health care agencies.
Despite having staff out with the illness, personnel have picked up the slack and “we are still following our standard response times. So even though our numbers are up, we never missed a beat.”
•Learned that the township continues to partner with ProMedica and their injury prevention and community outreach department by offering child car seat fittings at fire stations.
•Heard that the fire department conducted a “Shop with a Hero” event in December at the Holland Walmart. They paired 75 children with first responders from throughout the area for a shopping spree before the holidays. “The event is sponsored by UAW Local 3056, Walls Memorial Chapel, Lucas County sheriff’s office Explorers Post 2048 and Sheriff Navarre,” the battalion chief said.
~Jane Maiolo
