Liberty Township Fire Department gets Young-er

A new fire chief, a new station. A push for upgraded training and equipment. Changes are afoot at Liberty Township's Fire Department. Brian Young was promoted from assistant chief to chief in January to inject new energy into the department and upgrade firefighters' training and equipment. Young succeeds Gene Stump, who had been fire chief for about 11 years. The township's fire chief serves on a year-to-year basis, and it is not unheard of for a firefighter to compete with a sitting chief for the job. But it raised the eyebrows of the Liberty Township trustees at end of 2020 when multiple people stepped up to compete with the sitting chief for the job. And the challengers were teeming with enthusiasm and ideas. "We thought it was time for a change based on some ideas and suggestions for improvements that we heard from one of our candidates," trustee Jeff Hunker said. "The other candidates had good ideas, too." The sentiment for change seemed widespread. "Some of the firefighters were ready for a change, too," Hunker said. Young, a 30-year veteran of the fire department, and a retired Findlay police officer who was with that department for 27 years, is the man for the moment. But the winds of change have been blowing for a while. Liberty Township, west of Findlay, has been among the fastest growing areas of Hancock County for decades. Prosperity has brought new challenges: New subdivisions of architecturally pleasing houses with steeply pitched roofs, inaccessible to existing firefighter ladders, can force Liberty to call Findlay or Allen Township firefighters for aid. Liberty's mainline pumper truck is nearing its age limit at 30 years old. The township hired the Ohio Fire Chiefs Association to analyze the fire department, and last year it recommended upgrades in policies, procedures, equipment and a new location for the fire station. The old station, on County Road 140, was too small and did not meet ventilation standards. So the department has been moved into the nearby building on Township Road 89, formerly used by the trustees, zoning officer and maintenance. Those latter operations have been moved to the old fire station building. To convert the building on Township Road 89 to a fire station, nearly $60,000 in remodeling was done with general fund and federal CARES Act money. One nice feature of the new fire station: all the trucks fit in it. Township voters stepped up last November in approving the township's first tax earmarked for fire protection. One of the things the new 0.9-mill, five-year tax will help pay for is a replacement for the old mainline pumper in a few years. "We'll order it probably in year three (of the tax) to get it hopefully in year four," Young said. "The money from the levy, we can build that fund up over the next three years so that we're not hit right away or the township isn't hit right away, with the cost of a new fire truck. We'll have a little bit of money put aside." Important as all of that is, Young has an even bigger priority: "Our No. 1 goal in this department right now, and me as the chief, is the training of our guys. We have got to train our firemen, more than we ever have." The department's 29 volunteer firefighters all had to undergo training to make the force, and they must undergo continual training. But Young is encouraging them to take additional training in a specialty. He does not pressure the volunteer firefighters, though. "We are all volunteers," he said. "This isn't our full-time gig." Volunteer firefighters have other, full-time jobs and families. In 2020, Liberty Township firefighters were called out all hours of the day and night on 343 runs. "It truly takes family support, and my wife (Kelly) has been," Young said. Ninety percent of Liberty Township firefighters' calls last year were medical calls in which they were assisting Hanco EMS. The rest involved structure fires, traffic accidents, grass fires or other incidents. Firefighters had been earning $10 per run. Young recently prevailed on the trustees to raise their pay to $12 per run. Wilin: 419-427-8413