Perrysburg fire rolls out strategic plan for next three years

Jan. 2--More and better training.

That's going to be one of the priorities for Perrysburg Fire Department as it begins to implement its strategic plan for 2020 to 2023. The plan was outlined after two public meetings the fire department hosted for members of the community in December to find out what residents want from the fire department going forward.

"We wanted to make sure we had the input of the community," Perrysburg Fire Chief Rudy Ruiz said.

The fire department has a $3.8 million budget for 2020, and while some of the goals in the strategic plan might affect that, some of them can be implemented right away, according to Chief Ruiz. The department has 24 full-time and 12 part-time firefighters. There are also four firefighters who respond to big calls but aren't on regular shifts -- a carryover from when the department had volunteer firefighters.

Chief Ruiz said it was one of his goals when he came to the department to establish a regularly updated strategic plan. He acknowledged that not all of the initiatives outlined in the plan may be achieved, but the plan itself provides a direction for the department for the next few years. From the last plan, community members highlighted the need for faster response times, so the fire department built a second fire station and got budget approval to hire three more firefighters.

Now, it's about training.

"We don't train as well as we should," Chief Ruiz said.

The fire department has done the ALICE training for active shootings and it has its sights set on swift-water training for potential rescue situations in the Maumee River, confined spaces training, Stop the Bleed training -- to provide the public with basic medical skills for emergency situations -- and live-fire training because, as the chief said, Perrysburg doesn't get too many fires.

Specifically, the chief would like the department to improve its Insurance Services Office rating. The ISO evaluates fire departments for the level of service they provide to their communities, and that rating helps determine insurance rates for local homeowners and businesses. Better ratings could foster economic growth, Chief Ruiz said, because of the lower insurance rates.

One is the best rating, and 10 is the worst. Perrysburg fire currently sits at three.

It's an improvement from the department's previous rating at four, the chief said, but he believes the department can improve. The department is also looking to reconfigure space in the old fire station to keep the firefighters' unclean equipment -- and by extension carcinogens -- out of the station's living spaces. Firefighters' health will also continue to be a priority moving forward, the chief said, with initiatives to provide education and awareness about suicide prevention and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The next step to implementing the strategic plan is writing out specific objectives and timelines for each goal, which the chief plans to do in January. Some goals might take the entire three years to achieve, some might not be able to be started until year two. But some, like the education and awareness initiatives, can begin immediately.

"A lot of these things we can start right off the bat," Chief Ruiz said.

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