BOARDMAN — Emergency medical service has been a contentious issue in the township for several years and fire department officials said Halloween shows just how bad the problem has become.

“It’s not a reflection on a particular company. This is an issue across the board — when you don’t have the staff, it’s difficult to provide the service,” Boardman fire Chief Mark Pitzer said. “Last year we paid a lot of overtime to staff the ambulance and that was unsustainable financially.”

The day after Halloween, Nov. 1, Brian Hallquist, president of the Boardman Professional Fire Fighters IAFF Local 1176 union, issued a news release detailing the events of Oct. 31. Pitzer said the account is accurate and it highlights the problems his department has been working with township officials to remedy.

“We’ve had some EMS issues in the township for a few years now, and we tried to seek a levy last year — it was unsuccessful, and the problem persists,” he said. “Some folks believe we’re trying to scare people or seek more funds than are needed and that’s simply not true. Trust is our No. 1 priority, and we’re going to be transparent that there are still issues.”

Pitzer said it is not only the Boardman Fire Department that is understaffed and overextended. The same goes for Lane LifeTrans, the company the township contracts with for ambulance services. Other neighboring communities face the same problem, and they often rely upon each other to provide mutual aid or additional coverage.

“Canfield (Cardinal Joint Fire District) and Poland (Western Reserve Joint Fire District) are in our town almost daily, trying to cover calls for us,” Pitzer said.

A SCARY DAY

Halloween was terrifying for the fire department and many residents for all the wrong reasons. Among the many frightening calls the department dealt with that day, one ended with a man bringing his father — in the midst of a heart attack — to the hospital by car because no ambulance was available in Boardman or any neighboring community.

“That places a huge liability on the paramedic, allowing the son to do that,” Pitzer said. “What if something happened on the way, and he went into cardiac arrest? But we had no choice but to allow him to leave.”

In the union’s statement, Hallquist said the department started the day short-staffed. Boardman’s 39-person roster is split into three shifts, ideally with 12 firefighters assigned to each shift. Boardman’s firefighters are all also cross-trained as paramedics or emergency medical technicians (EMTs).

Hallquist said at full staffing with 12 people, the department can cover an engine and a ladder with three firefighters each, another engine with a captain and two firefighters, and their ambulance unit, Medic 71, with two firefighters (a paramedic and an EMT).

“Even with full staff, we are below the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) 1710 standard of (four) firefighters per engine and (five) firefighters per ladder. We staff Medic 71 if personnel for the day are at or above 11. If we drop below that 11-personnel mark, Medic 71 comes out of service as it did on Halloween,” he wrote.

In addition to the NFPA standards Hallquist outlined, Pitzer said they also consider the National Fire Administration, which analyzes all departments across the country.

“The one they use is 1.8 firefighters per 1,000 people,” Pitzer said. “We should have 72 firefighters in Boardman, and we have half of that. We have half the national average for like-sized communities.”

Boardman is the 12th largest township in Ohio, but its fire department budget is between one-third and one-half of a like-sized community, he said.

The residential population is about 40,000, but during daytime work and commercial operating hours, it can reach 65,000, and during the holiday shopping season, it may be as high as 100,000.

The ambulance is only staffed if the department has enough personnel to ensure all fire apparatus are staffed. But on Halloween, Lane notified the Boardman Fire Department that the company was short on ambulances for the day, and would only be able to provide five in the morning — two stationed in the township — and three for the afternoon, with only one stationed in Boardman.

The union news release said the department’s first call for service was at 10:15 a.m. for a carbon monoxide check, followed by three medical emergencies between 10:17 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., which were all handled by Lane.

The trouble began in the early afternoon. The first example highlights how medical calls affect fire apparatus staffing, and it was not the only such incident that day.

Engine 71 — stationed across from Southern Park Mall — responded to a medical emergency at 1:07 p.m. that required mutual aid from Poland.

“They were able to provide transport capabilities at the basic EMT level. Unfortunately, this call for service was ALS (Advanced Life Support), which required one of the Boardman fire medics to transport with our mutual aid company, lowering truck staffing until they returned from the hospital,” Hallquist wrote.

Twenty minutes later, Ladder 74 — stationed at Shields Road and Lockwood Boulevard — was called to a lift assist, something usually handled by Lane, who had no units available at the time. The call required equipment only carried on Medic 71 because of limited space on the fire trucks. Engine 71 returned to Market Street for the proper equipment then went to assist Ladder 74.

Ladder 74 then went to a medical emergency at 2:03 p.m., which Lane needed an EMT ambulance to cover.

After that, there was a lull, but after 5 p.m., the problem became considerably worse.

Engine 73 — also stationed at Shields and Lockwood — responded to a medical emergency at 5:04 p.m. Lane ultimately covered that call with a delayed response, sending a unit from Weathersfield. Engine 71 went to a medical emergency at 5:15 p.m. That call had to be covered with a paramedic from Canfield.

Three minutes later, Ladder 74 was called to the incident in which the man’s son chose to drive him to the hospital rather than wait any longer for an ambulance.

“This incident requires further context due to the complete and utter failure of the system,” Hallquist wrote. While Ladder 74 was en route, dispatch told them Lane was unavailable. Canfield also could not afford to send another unit to Boardman. Ladder 74 arrived to assess the patient. While there, dispatch told them Beaver Township and Green Township fire departments were both unable to respond. Poland said they could send a basic EMT unit for transport, but by that time the family decided just to drive the man to the hospital.

At 5:52 p.m. Ladder 74, Engine 71, and Command 71 — the assistant chief — all responded to a crash on Interstate 680 “with possible entrapment and a possible vehicle fire.”

“At the time of this incident, Ladder 74 and Engine 71 were staffed with only two firefighters. While en route, Command 71 requested at least three ambulances to the scene due to information provided by callers.”

Lane sent one of those units and Poland sent a paramedic unit and a basic EMT unit. “Unfortunately, this accident had a fatality and an additional injury,” Hallquist noted.

Engine 73 was then sent to a medical emergency at 6:35 p.m. that was ultimately covered by mutual aid from Poland.

Another lull in the action lasted until just before 11 p.m.

At 10:51 p.m., Engine 73 went to a medical emergency. Lane was initially unavailable as was mutual aid from neighboring communities. After an extended wait, Lane was able to send a unit.

Nine minutes after that call, Ladder 74 went to a call that required mutual aid from Poland, who provided a basic EMT. However, the call required advanced life support, and a Boardman paramedic had to respond, reducing staffing on their assigned truck until they returned.

Engine 71 responded to a medical emergency at 11:15 p.m. and in the midst of that call, another came in that needed an advanced life support response.

“Engine 71 was the only truck remaining in Boardman that had paramedics on board,” Hallquist wrote. Engine 71 was diverted to the second call and Engine 73 was sent to the first. Springfield Township Fire provided mutual aid to transport that patient.

Two minutes later, Engine 71 and Ladder 74 responded to a medical emergency and needed mutual aid from Beaver Township for transport.

Beaver’s Advanced EMT unit can provide ALS care, but because it was a cardiac case, Boardman paramedics had to remain with the patient and ride with Beaver’s ambulance to the hospital.

“This call dropped another truck’s staffing. At the time that units cleared this call, Ladder 74 and Engine 71 were both reduced to two-man apparatus,” Hallquist wrote.

Pitzer said the summary of events cannot adequately paint the picture.

“Not only could we not keep up with the flow of the medical calls, but Springfield also had to cover a gas leak call for us,” he said.

Hallquist wrote that while Halloween is a fairly extreme example, days like that are becoming more common.

“Boardman Fire is attempting to prop up a broken system, and in doing so we are crippling our fire and rescue coverage,” he said. “It was said during the levy (campaign) that we need to do more with less by some of those against it. We are trying to do more with the same and it’s not working. The EMS Levy last year was not done as a scare tactic; it was done to prevent what is currently happening. Our system is crumbling and there is no easy fix at this point.”

NO EASY WAY OUT

Pitzer and Hallquist said that without the assistance of neighboring departments, who fortunately did not have their own calls to answer at the moment, the day may have been much worse.

“It was a rough day. There were only three ambulances staffed at Lane, covering six communities, and only one stationed in Boardman for much of that day,” Pitzer said. “Ours was also pulled out multiple times, and we had to rely on mutual aid. We had several delays, and one patient didn’t get an ambulance at all.”

Although he stated recently that he is not pleased with the revisions to the latest contract with Lane, Pitzer said the issue is not about blame.

“This is not an issue of us trying to humiliate Lane. Even the neighboring communities that sent help, if we determine advanced life support care is needed, we’re taking a paramedic off a fire truck to ride with Poland or Springfield’s ambulance if they only have an EMT,” he said. “(On Halloween), we had two of those calls at the same time, and that left us with one fire truck for the township.”

Pitzer said the staffing problem not only compromises patients, but it takes a toll on the mental health of firefighters. He said that when a person is in the midst of a major medical trauma when seconds count, having no units nearby with staff that can provide the necessary level of care traumatizes everyone involved.

“It’s stress that you cannot measure,” he said. “and it’s literally mental anguish to have dispatch come back with ‘no ambulance unavailable.'”

Pitzer said he wants to continue working with township leaders to find solutions, but he knows there are no easy ones. Even as the township looks for ways to support its safety services and other departments with an operating budget of about $24 million, the real possibility exists of a measure making its way onto the ballot next year that would eliminate residential property taxes in Ohio, cutting township budgets by about 90%.

On Jan. 1, 2027, townships like Boardman may be faced with the reality that they cannot keep the lights on, let alone fund police, fire and emergency medical response services.

Pitzer said he understands residents’ frustrations with increasing taxes, but for communities like Boardman — which cannot collect income or sales tax — property-based funding is the only source of income to support safety services.

He said the township has been trying for years to solve the issue.

“We have a study that was done in 2018, when we formed a committee of hospital and insurance professionals, and (police Chief) Todd (Werth), (Township Administrator) Jason (Loree), and myself provided all the information we had. And they made a recommendation to start to address the EMS issue and put an ambulance at each fire station.”

That has not been economically feasible, he said. But they continue to search for answers.

“We have to be on the same page with the administration,” he said. “I can provide the facts and data to elected officials but they’re the ones who have to take action. Maybe we can reduce the amount we ask for in a levy, but we all have to work toward a solution.”

Pitzer also takes exception to what he says is patently false information being shared on social media platforms.

“It’s extremely damaging to put out information that is completely incorrect,” he said. “It’s so damning to the safety of the community that we have people who are just making things up.”

He said he welcomes residents to call or visit the station if they have questions.

“I’ve always been a person to lead with the heart and always do the right thing, and that’s all me and my firefighters want to do,” he said. “I have all the facts and data and if anybody wants to learn more, I’m here Monday through Friday, I’ll show them whatever they want to see and discuss it with them. They can come do a ride-along. There are no secrets here.”