The Daily Standard
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Celina Mayor Jeff Hazel, far right, swears-in eight firefighters who have joined the ranks of the fire department over the last year, during a ceremony at the fire department last week.
CELINA - The Celina Fire Department is nearly back to full staff, save for a recent hire who still has to enter and graduate from fire academy. The staffing level is a welcome development that should provide relief to an organization that at times has struggled to meet the demands of a heavy call load.
Celina Mayor Jeff Hazel presided over a swearing-in ceremony late last week for eight firefighters brought on board since last year.
"This is the first time we're full at the firefighter position in a couple years, and then with the EMS levy, we added on three positions," Fire Chief Brian Davis told The Daily Standard. "That gives us six-man shifts. That's the first time in the history of our department that we've had a six-man shift, so that's kind of an exciting thing for us as well."
Additionally, Brian Davis, who assumed the role of fire chief on July 26, was honored by his father, Greg Davis, a former Celina fire department chief. Greg Davis fastened a shiny new badge onto the shirt of his son during the ceremony.
Brian Davis, an accomplished hometown firefighter/paramedic with nearly 22 years under his belt, said it was a touching moment to share with his father. He noted that his mother, wife and three children were also in attendance.
"It was pretty cool, growing up, watching him. He retired in '98 from Celina, so asking him to come do that for me was a really big deal to me and I think it meant a lot to him as well," Brian Davis said.
Newly appointed Celina fire chief Brian Davis receives his badge from his father, Greg Davis, who was himself Celina's fire chief before retiring in 1998.
The new firefighters sworn-in were Mason Ayers, Kent Buschur, Landon Engle, Anderson Ewing, Dalton Goubeaux, Zach Metzger, Cade Schoenleben and Elijah Shaw. Ayers still needs to go to fire academy to get his firefighter certification. He already has earned his emergency medical technician (EMT-B) certification.
"We have some firefighter/EMTs, some firefighter/paramedics, but they're all full-fledged firefighters at this point," Brian Davis said of the others sworn-in. "Just a very good group of young guys that's eager to learn, they're excited to get started in the fire service and I think we have a bright future going forward with this group. I'm excited for it."
Having six-man shifts makes it much easier for the department to carry out its duties on fire scenes and respond to EMS calls.
"A lot more gets done a lot quicker than what it does with even a four-man shift," he said. "Just adding those two extra people makes a huge difference as far as I'm able to free up guys to get interior sooner and still have people outside doing things like stretching hose, running the pumps, throwing ladders."
Hazel said the additional hires also help ease the strain on the firefighters, who work 24-hour shifts and are supposed to be off for 48 hours - but in the past were often called in to help man squad runs.
"I would say they are seeing some level of relief," Hazel said. "Obviously full relief comes when they're all through their schooling."
Davis said the fire department has lost a lot of experience with the departure of personnel over the last few years, but stressed he's confident his men and women will rise to a level of excellence through continual training and the leadership shown by some of the veterans.
"We're extremely young right now and for the next two years we'll have basically constantly someone in some type of training, whether that's fire school, medic school," he said. "It's going to take us a couple years to get fully staffed to that firefighter/paramedic level. And we have a great group of leadership of senior guys that are on a daily basis working with these young guys and getting them up to speed."
Hazel shared Davis' optimism about the fire department's next chapter.
"That's an insurance for the public and for the department as they meld together and start meshing," he said. "We think we're going to see that really quick here, because we've got a lot of young people, but there appears to be a lot of commitment within the fire department, and we're certainly pleased with that."
The Celina Fire Department/EMS is part of the Mercer County Joint Ambulance District.
The county EMS system has branches manned by volunteers in Rockford and Coldwater. Celina has paid firefighters/EMS personnel in addition to a number of auxiliary members.
The ambulance district serves Blackcreek, Butler, Center, Dublin, Franklin, Hopewell, Jefferson, Liberty, Union and Washington townships as well as the municipalities of Celina, Coldwater, Mendon, Montezuma and Rockford.
Members of the Celina Fire Department.
