PEDRO, Ohio — If you’ve never met any of these people, you definitely want to — just not while they are working.
The Elizabeth Township Volunteer Fire Department, housed in Pedro, has been responding to area fires and emergencies for more than 40 years. The all-volunteer department takes pride in being the first line of protection for its local families and area visitors.
Chief Dale Waugh, a retired AK Steel worker, has been a volunteer with the department for 27 years. Waugh has nothing but praise for his fellow volunteers. “They’re out there every day risking their lives and don’t get a penny out of it,” Waugh said of his unselfish staff, adding that they have other responsibilities besides emergencies. “Not only do you have to be a firefighter, but a mechanic also. We do our own maintenance on our trucks and equipment.”
The department is funded in large part by residents of the township via a much-needed tax levy. “We operate on roughly $15,000 a year,” Waugh said, stressing the importance of the additional levy to the department. “From 1987 until 2002 we operated on $8,500 a year. We have to renew this (additional) levy next year or we will go back to $8,500 a year.”
That $15,000 a comes out to just less than $300 a week to keep the department’s four fire trucks, rescue vehicle and emergency four-wheeler fueled up and in working order. The money also covers all emergency equipment costs such as the Jaws-of-Life, an expensive tool with enormous life-saving potential, as well as oxygen tanks, defibrillators, first-aid care for accident victims and firefighter training.
“We have to come up with the same equipment and training as even the bigger fire departments in, say, Columbus,” Waugh said. “We just do it on a much smaller budget.”
The volunteers, Waugh said, come from all walks of life. “Some are farmers. One drives over the road for the (U.S.) Post Office. We have two factory workers. One works at Lowe’s, one drives an ambulance and one works for the city of Ironton. One (Matt Jenkins) is in the Army in Iraq right now.”
One of those farmers is Jerry Kline, a 40-year veteran of the department. “I think it started in 1963,” Kline recalled of the volunteer fire department. He joined a few years later and has only recently slowed down due to hip replacement surgery. “They didn’t have a building then. There was a service station on (State Route) 93 in Pedro. They kept the truck there.”
Kline said that the ETVFB’s capabilities have dramatically increased since its inception. “Back then, if they had 12 runs a year it was a lot. Last year, we had 213.”
Kline noted that the department actually has two stations in Elizabeth Township. “We have a station in Pedro and a smaller one in Pine Grove,” he said. “Most townships are 36 square miles, but this one is bigger so we need two stations.”
Waugh added that the volunteers also provide mutual aid to adjacent townships when needed. “We have gone into Scioto County and we’ve been as far away as South Point. If they need water, we take the tanks and go.
“It’s not as easy a job as some people think it is,” Waugh said. “It’s a good feeling when you can help someone who is sick or in a wreck or if you have a house fire that only causes minimal damage.”
Waugh also praised his first-responders while adding that all of his personnel are first-aid and CPR certified. “A first-responder is somebody who is advanced in first-aid but isn’t an EMT. They (Ralph Joseph and Ben Mullins) take care of the situation so when the EMS arrives all they have to do is load the person up. I respond with them also.”
Kline added that the first-responders are familiar with the area, saving precious time for victims until an EMS arrives. “They know how to find their way and get there faster (than the emergency vehicles dispatched by 911).”
Everybody is on call at all times in the Elizabeth Township department, awaiting a chance to help another person in need.
Waugh noted that, “Nationwide, volunteer fire departments don’t get the recognition they deserve.” But they do know that their next call might save someone’s life. And that’s the only motivation these extraordinary people need.
