OREGON, Ohio — The city of Oregon is one of many local governments trying to secure the future of its fire department.
The Oregon Safety Committee voted Monday to move forward with bringing on three additional firefighters to the Oregon Fire & Rescue Department.
While the department isn't struggling to answer calls, it would like to improve response time and not overwork its current staff.
Oregon Fire Chief Clayton O'Brien said the department needs 12 additional firefighters to be fully staffed.
The current 21 full-time firefighters are based at Station 41 on Wynn Road. But Station 42 on Wheeling Street doesn't have any.
"(The) majority of our runs are in that area, so, we're looking to put staff into Station 42 to improve our response times to those emergencies," O'Brien said.
The city is trying to figure out a plan to bring in the additional staffing.
Kathleen Pollauf, the safety committee chair, says city council last month voted against voters to increase income tax to fund more firefighters.
"There's a lot of reasons," Pollauf said about why council voted no. "A lot of (council members) feel the political climate nowadays would cause a no vote. But the most important service in a city is its safety services."
She called the safety meeting on Monday to find a solution to give aid to the department sooner rather than later. The committee agreed to move forward with hiring three additional firefighters and hopes to establish a plan for the future.
"It would just be a tweaking of the budget to make sure that we can afford to hire on and keep the men and women that we have in both our police force and fire department," Pollauf said.
O'Brien said approving the three additional firefighters is "at least a step in the right direction."
Council will first have to approve the hiring before it is finalized.
O'Brien said the department also applied for the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant, which would fund the department to hire 12 additional firefighters for three years. A decision on that grant won't happen until later this year.