CANFIELD — Cardinal Joint Fire District Chief Don Hutchison reported at the fire district board meeing Monday about a crash on state Route 11 that damaged one of the district’s rescue pumpers.

On Saturday, the CJFD responded to a crash on Route 11 near the bridge over the Ohio Turnpike. The call was for a rollover crash involving a car and a semi truck. The Ohio State Highway Patrol was on scene, along with a CJFD ambulance. Hutchison said a second ambulance was on standby in case it was needed.

The district’s rescue pumper was parked in the right lane behind the crash scene. As the crash in front of the pumper was being photographed by troopers, a vehicle came across the bridge and slid into the back of the fire truck.

“It was black ice on the bridge that played a role in the crash,” Hutchison said.

After that crash was taken care of, the state trooper told Hutchison that had the big pumper truck not been where it was, she would have been struck by the sliding car.

The pumper truck, according to Hutchison, carries 750 gallons of water, making it a near immovable object. The damage caused by the hit was to the left rear corner.

“The side door was shut and we had to use the jaws of life to get it open,” he said.

The door normally slides all the way up to reveal two shelves of tools used in rescue operations. The door was freed up, but now only comes down halfway.

“This is the second time this truck (known as Squad 101) has been hit,” Hutchison said. “And the second time it was hit on Route 11 while responding to another crash.”

He said three or four years ago there was a call for a crash on Route 11. Squad 101 responded and set up behind the crash when a vehicle struck the side of the fire truck just in front of the left rear wheel. That strike caused $12,000 in damage. The price for the latest hit was not yet determined.

Hutchison said the parts needed to repair the truck are about eight weeks out. In the meantime, he plans to continue to use the truck when needed, while awaiting those parts. The crash damaged the frame, door track, and bent one of the equipment shelves.

On a different matter, CJFD Attorney David “Chip” Comstock presented agreements to be filed with the Ohio EPA to be able to use two buildings for fire training. One is the house at the corner of Leffingwell and state Route 46 that abuts the fairgrounds parking lot. The second structure is the pumpkin barn inside the fairgrounds.

Both have been checked for asbestos. The documents were agreements with the Mahoning County Agricultural Society. Plans are to use the buildings for training in May.

Also happening during the meeting was a situation involving the recent minutes of the fire board for February. Board member Christine Oliver claimed board chairman Richard Russo removed her from the Strategic Planning Committee she was voted to serve on in January.

Russo stated that some board members were on multiple boards and he wanted to even out the workload.

“I brought it up as a recommendation and it was tabled,” he said.

Oliver added that the actual statements she made at the February meeting was not in the final minutes. She had requested to give up the finance committee in favor of keeping the strategic planning committee.

Russo again said it was only a recommendation, and he called for approval of the February minutes. Board members Joe Paloski, Denise Harlan and David Knarr voted to accept them and Oliver voted no. It passed 3-1.

Police Chief Chuck Colucci was in attendance and asked how the minutes were composed. CJFD secretary Sherri LaRosa said she puts the minutes together from a recording and those recordings are kept.

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