LOCAL FIREFIGHTERS fear the state’s new training requirements may prove a burden for smaller departments and volunteers.

On Jan. 5, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 509 into law. The legislation includes revisions to regulations on professional licenses and certifications. Continuing education will only be offered through an accredited institution.

The development comes after the governor’s Volunteer Fire Service Task Force recently delivered a report of recommendations to improve volunteer fire service in Ohio.

Jim Delman, secretary/treasurer of the Belmont County Fire and Squad Officers Association, said the changes will have negative consequences.

“It’s going to affect all the EMTs, advanced EMTs and paramedics,” he said. “It’s going to require everyone to go through an accredited institution. Right now in Belmont County there are 10 … continuing education sites … an approved site through the Ohio Division of EMS, which allows a certified instructor to teach continuing ed through that department. There’s a lot of departments that have their own instructors, and the instructors will do the instructing for free.”

He said the bill will affect 600 continuing education sites in Ohio.

Delman said departments now will instead work with vocational schools and colleges that will have to charge the departments for continuing education.

“It’s just putting an extra burden, especially on the volunteer personnel throughout the state of Ohio,” he said.

In addition, Delman said the bill will reduce the continuing education hours that are needed to recertify. Requirements for paramedic recertification have been reduced from 86 hours to 75 hours for every three-year certification cycle, and requirements for firefighter certifications have been reduced from 54 hours to 36 hours.

“You need to have training constantly in order to keep your skills at the highest level, but unfortunately it takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, especially if you have multiple cards,” Delman said, referring to individuals who have multiple qualifications, such as a firefighter who is also an EMT. “It’s difficult for individuals to do this, but the individuals that do this, they are dedicated, they love their job even if it’s a volunteer, and they’ll do it because it’s needed.”

He said there are 23 fire departments in Belmont County. The Cumberland Trail Fire District, Neffs Fire Department and OR&W Fire District in Shadyside are paid departments and the rest are volunteer.

Delman said the association is urging fire departments and private citizens to reach out to their state lawmakers — Ohio Sen. Frank Hoagland, R-Mingo Junction, state Rep. Ron Ferguson, R-Wintersville and state Rep. Don Jones, R-Freeport.

“Hopefully the departments will do this. … It would be nice if the general public would reach out to the representatives and voice their opinion about how it’s going to hurt their local services,” he said. “The legislators, if they choose, should be able to bring up another bill to repeal parts of the bill.”

Jeff Gazdik, squad captain with the Barton Volunteer Fire Department, said he attended a recent conference in Columbus and spoke with Ohio Fire Marshal Kevin Reardon and Aaron Jennings, deputy director of the Division of EMS at the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

“This was a very hot topic amongst the firemen, EMTs, first responders in the room,” Gazdik said. “I encourage all the departments in Belmont County and neighboring counties to call our legislators or write letters letting them know that we oppose this House Bill 509.

“House Bill 509 is not a win for Ohio EMS providers, which means it is not a win for the citizens we serve,” Gazdik said. “It’s hard enough now with manpower to answer calls, let alone with tougher restrictions on our continuing ed training, and also a lot of the part-time training instructors are going to be out. They’re losing their license to be an instructor when this bill goes into effect. That’s going to hurt. We’re going to lose a lot of good instructors that we count on.

“We have our own continuing ed site at Barton, so we do have a license through the state. So when this bill goes into effect we will lose it. We do have some instructors in our own training facility,” he said. “It’s going to hurt us, and it’s going to be harder to get instructors to come in from colleges, and it’s going to be much more expensive. A lot of our instructors donate their time when they teach in-house.”

Patty Phillips, squad captain for the Smith Township Volunteer Fire Department, has also heard about the bill.

“It’s going to put a kink in our budget with having to send people to the colleges for continuing education, because right now we’ve got continuing education classes in our department once a month,” she said. “It makes it a little easier for all our personnel to be there.”

She said sending firefighters out of the area for training could leave the department short-handed in the event of an emergency call. She said members must also determine the closest college that offers classes.

“There a possibility that we could lose a few (volunteers) because of where they may have to go to get the class and how often the classes are offered. Everything’s still so up in the air,” Phillips said.

“We’re trying to get all the letters and phone calls and emails out that we can,” she said.

In Harrison County, Fire Chief John Vermillion said compliance will be difficult among the smaller communities.

“Obviously it will hurt our department,” he said. “It’s something that the government wants to do, and sometimes people who put these laws in place don’t sit in the same seat we sit in. … As low as the volunteer numbers are — not only in my department but the entire state — they’re just trying to make it harder for volunteers to work. … Hopefully our local officials can try to get this taken care of.”

The new legislation will go into effect April 6.