FIRE DEPARTMENT ACTIVITIES

FIRE SUPPRESSION is handled on an on-call basis with a general alarm going out to all Chippewa Township Fire Dept. members, who will respond with the necessary equipment to extinguish the fire at hand. If the suppression is deemed to require more effort or equipment than is available with our own department, we have agreements with surrounding fire departments to provide assistance on a mutual aid basis. Mutual Aid is an agreement by which fire departments agree to help each other as the need arises.

EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE is also done on an on-call basis with an EMS specific alarm going out to the on call EMS squad of the Chippewa Township Fire Dept. The on-call squad is a three-member squad who has agreed to be on call for a six (6) hour squad shift. There are four (4) squad shifts per day; midnight till 6:00 AM; 6:00 AM till noon; noon till 6:00 PM; 6:00 PM till midnight. Each Fire Dept. member is expected to sign up for several shifts a month. These three squad members will respond with the necessary equipment to handle the medical incident. The mutual aid agreements mentioned above may be invoked for EMS incidents as well as fire incidents. Chippewa Township EMS operates under the State of Ohio, Region 8, EMS Protocol & Procedures Manual, as authorized by our EMS Medical Advisor, Ross Compensa, M.D., Barberton Citizens Hospital. In cases of major trauma, this protocol calls for transport via ground or aero medical, which ever is most appropriate to the nearest major trauma center (usually Akron General Hospital.)

TRAINING: The Fire Department conducts weekly training sessions in all aspects of all activities of the department with training scheduled for the first, third, fourth, and fifth Tuesdays of each month. The same training that is presented on Tuesday evenings is repeated on request of the members on Wednesday mornings for those who could not attend the Tuesday sessions. Several times a year we hold weekend training for subjects, which cannot be handled in the two to two and a half hour sessions on Tuesday evenings or Wednesday mornings. There is EMS specific continuing education conducted once a month at the direction of our EMS Medical Advisor from Barberton Citizens Hospital. The members also attend outside the department training regularly at the Wayne County Regional Fire School as well as other generally recognized training schools.

EXPLORER POST: The Fire Department's Explorer Program is dedicated to the training of young men and women ages 14-18 in the ways of the Fire Rescue System, in hopes that they will be a force for good in the community, and prepare them for possible careers in the different Public Safety profession.

FIRE PREVENTION: The Fire Department has an active ongoing fire prevention program that operates on three fronts. One, a children's educational fire prevention program done in conjunction with the Chippewa Local School system and Sts. Peter and Paul School along with local day schools and youth activities such as the Scouting programs. Secondly we do educational fire prevention programs for businesses and adult community groups upon request. The third front is the inspection program in which public buildings, such as schools, churches, businesses, day schools, and foster homes are inspected for fire and life safety hazards. These inspections also provide our firefighters with a familiarity with the buildings and the personal occupancy of the buildings. This allows improved efficiency when the Fire Dept. is faced with and emergency in or at these buildings.

AUXILIARY SERVICES: We as a fire department have access to and are involved in auxiliary Wayne County fire department services such as fire investigation, rope rescue, hazardous materials handling, and underwater rescue. The Chippewa Township Fire Department is a member of the National Fire Protection Association, the Ohio State Firefighters Association, the Wayne County Fire and Rescue Association, the Wayne County Fire Chiefs Association, the Wayne County Fire Investigation Unit, the Wayne County Dive Team and the Wayne County Rope Rescue Team.