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Medina fire chief says 24-hour staffing halved overnight response times
Summary
The committee heard from the fire chief that a Feb. 1, 2025 start to 24-hour overnight staffing significantly reduced overnight response times, with cited incidents showing first engines arriving in 7–14 minutes versus earlier waits exceeding 20 minutes; chief also described new in‑house training and operational guidelines.
Fire Chief Eddie told the Medina Health, Safety and Sanitation Committee that the department’s move to 24-hour overnight staffing, begun Feb. 1, 2025, has materially improved response times to overnight fires and other incidents.
“we started in February 2025 with that overnight program,” Eddie said, and then cited multiple calls in the first 12 months that he said demonstrated the change. He said the first engine reached a multifamily residential fire on West Liberty in eight minutes, a multi-tenant commercial fire on Lake Road in 11 minutes, an apartment complex blaze on Birch Hill in seven minutes and a hazardous-materials commercial fire on West Smith Road in 10 minutes. Chief Eddie contrasted those times with prior overnight response times that “were not uncommon” to exceed 20 minutes.
The chief emphasized safety and survivability as the primary benefits. He said earlier night operations relied heavily on part‑time members who responded from home or off work, and that the expanded staffing reduces property loss and increases chances of rescuing occupants.
Eddie also described workforce and training upgrades. He said the department finished development of an in‑house training program two weeks earlier and has five firefighters enrolled now; the program will be condensed into an annual, recorded course to improve training consistency and reduce liability. Separately, he said the department is in its third year of writing operational standard operating guidelines (SOGs) and recently implemented its 10th SOG, covering Mayday procedures after experiencing its first Mayday at a Medina Township fire.
On apparatus, the chief said a placeholder for a new engine appears in the capital plan for 2028 because market lead times and rising prices mean it could take three years to obtain a truck; he said typical engine prices have risen from roughly $600,000–$700,000 to more than $1,000,000.
Committee members asked about coverage across the city’s large geography; the chief responded that volunteers who happen to be in town help frequently but the department still struggles to cover more than 50 square miles from a single overnight station and may need a second engine staffed with at least two personnel in the future. The chair and members thanked the chief and his staff for the improvements.
The committee did not take formal action on department staffing or apparatus procurement during the meeting; budget and capital items would be addressed through the finance process.
