TOLEDO, Ohio —
The night of July 4th, 2021 is one Toledo's first responders won't soon forget, responding to calls of a massive gunfight in the streets of central Toledo.
According to TPD, over the course of the bloodshed, 12 people were shot and one was killed, all while members of the Toledo Fire and Rescue Department were treating victims without any kind of protection.
"As they always do they adapted to it and were able to successfully mitigate and treat the patients necessary, but what we learned from it is ...that we need to make some corrections," said Deputy Fire Chief John Kaminski.
Not wanting to put any first responders in such danger again, councilwoman Katie Moline reached out to the fire department to find solutions.
"So after this happened, I called chief Byrd, and said why did this happen and he said, 'we need ballistic vests, councilwoman,'" said Moline.
City council secured the purchase of 130 vests for some $105,000 out of the city's capital improvement fund. Toledo fire says they plan on putting them on every rig in service. While it will be an extra 40 pounds of gear the firefighters have to worry about, Deputy Chief Kaminksi says they'll need to learn to adapt.
"Certainly it's going to be an added weight and added storage space on our apparatus, but we're really left with no choice. especially after that July 4th incident," said Kaminski.
Moving forward, any Toledo Fire Fighters responding to violent incidents will be required to wear the vests at the scene.
"Of course, we pray that our firefighters will never need these, but that they are ready in case they ever have to go into a situation," said Moline.