Columbus corrects data on fire runs

When the numbers showed that his Madison Township firefighters had made thousands more runs into Columbus than the city did in return, Chief Robert Bates just couldn’t believe it.

Bates called on the city to recheck its figures, which were

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way off according to his own calculations.

“That’s a huge concern for me,” he said, especially because he wants voters to approve a fire levy in May.

The figures, compiled by the Columbus Division of Fire and published on Nov. 30 in The Dispatch, ranked Madison Township second among townships and suburbs that some said were being taken advantage of by the big city.

But Columbus fire officials recalculated Madison Township’s numbers, and instead of a disparity of 7,325 runs, the correct number is 566: 2,403 township runs into the city compared with 1,837 city runs into the township in 2013.

That’s a bargain, Bates said, considering the help from Columbus and the equipment the city makes available to his township.

The numbers Columbus released in November were not a fair comparison, Columbus Battalion Chief Michael Vedra acknowledged. Columbus’ runs into the suburbs and townships were counted as individual events, he said, no matter how many vehicles responded. But for communities such as Madison Township and Franklin Township, where Columbus handles dispatching, the numbers showing runs from the smaller departments into Columbus counted each vehicle.

For example, if Columbus sent three vehicles to an emergency in Madison Township, it counted as one run. If Madison Township sent two vehicles to a fire in Columbus, it counted as two runs. That overcounted runs into Columbus.

Bates wasn’t upset that Columbus initially got the numbers wrong.

“I think it’s kudos to them for not just blowing it off,” he said of the recheck. “I know Chief (Gregory A.) Paxton, and it doesn’t surprise me that he said, ‘Let’s take a look at it.’”

Madison Township made 566 more runs into Columbus than the city fire department did into the township, not 7,325.

Officials with several township fire departments interviewed support the automaticresponse agreement that many have with Columbus. The idea is that the closest department, regardless of who it is, automatically responds to a call, regardless of where it is.

“We have to look at what we’re giving and what we’re receiving,” Bates said. “It is allowing me to get apparatus that I don’t have to purchase or staff. These numbers show it’s a two-way street.”

Columbus sends two ladder trucks to any structure fire in a neighboring jurisdiction that doesn’t have one.

“If I had to staff and purchase that ladder truck, that’s almost a couple of million a year,” Bates said. The truck alone would cost around a million, and he’d have to hire 12 to 15 more firefighters to man it 24 hours a day, he said.

The city also dispatches for several township and suburban departments for an average fee of $5 per call, but says its actual cost is almost $50.

A majority of Madison Township runs into the city are medics sent to deal with medical problems, which can be moneymakers for a department because the patient can be billed. The levy that Bates wants to put before voters on May 5 would, if passed, be used to build a third station to house a third medic.

Vedra said the recalculations could be done for other township and suburban departments later this year after his data analysts in the city’s 911 dispatching office finish their yearend tabulations.

Franklin Township was at the top of the original disparity list, which showed that at least 83 percent of the township’s 11,097 engine and medic runs — more than 9,000 — were into Columbus in 2013.

Two of the three township trustees and Fire Chief Rick Howard oppose seeking any monetary compensation from Columbus. The third trustee, Tim Guyton, has suggested that fire departments agree to assign a monetary value to each vehicle. “A ladder truck is this much; a heavy rescue vehicle is that; a medic, that,” he said.

At the end of the year, the departments would compare their costs and settle up, Guyton said. He’s awaiting a response to his idea from Columbus.

Guyton campaigned against a permanent township fire levy on the Nov. 4 ballot, complaining that it sought too much money and did not have to go back to voters for renewal. Voters rejected the levy, the third successive fire levy to fail, and the township laid off five firefighters, one of whom was reinstated after another firefighter retired.