BY RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON -- Firefighters take an average of eight minutes to respond to a fire emergency in the city. Fire Chief Michael Hannigan hopes to shave the time to four minutes.
But to do that, he needs to reconfigure his staff. Now, the chief is the only full-time firefighter in Lebanon, which has grown more than 20 percent in the last decade, to an estimated population of 13,700. The rest of the staff consists of 40 paid volunteers, most of whom work full-time jobs and respond from their homes. They are paid $11 each time they go on a fire run, whether it lasts four hours or 10 minutes.
Council Tuesday reviewed a request to put a levy increase on the November ballot. The amount of the proposed millage was left blank, with the intent that the city's safety committee will meet within the next two weeks to determine the extent of changes needed and how much they would cost.
The changes could range from minor ones, such as adding a few staff members, to an extensive overhaul, adding a full-time emergency medical squad or building a second fire station.
Council is expected to vote on the measure at its next meeting, Aug. 11. It would then be placed on the November ballot.
With fire departments, "voters have the control," Chief Hannigan said. "They don't have control of how many people are on the street department or the police department. . . . But residents can decide if they want a full-time department or a volunteer one or some combination thereof."
The Lebanon Fire Department has operated under a 3-mill levy since 1983, the chief said. The levy costs the owner of a $100,000 home about $105 annually. For this year's budget of $546,000, the department had to use about $70,000 from its reserve fund, he said. Chief Hannigan said he expects the proposed millage would range from 3.5 to 5 mills.
City Manager Richard Hayward said creating a full-time EMS department would require a 10-mill levy.
Twelve part-time emergency medical technicians staff the department from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday thru Friday. Their response time is about four minutes, Chief Hannigan said. But when the EMS duties fall to the volunteers on weekends or nights, the response time doubles, he said. That's because volunteers come from their homes, go to the station and then respond to the emergency.
Countryside YMCA and residents of some of the newer subdivisions have pushed for a full-time EMS department, Mr. Hayward said.
"We have a population that is used to large city or suburban full-time run rates," Mr. Hayward said. Instead, "they're now getting volunteer run rates. They're not getting the same feeling of safety that they're used to."
Unless changes are made to the department, Chief Hannigan predicts response times will slow as the population grows.
An increased fire levy "would provide a higher level of service than what residents are getting now," he said.
