MOUNT VERNON — Local fire chiefs had an opportunity to meet with State Fire Marshal Michael Bell face to face Tuesday, when Bell attended the chief’s regular meeting in Mount Vernon.
“A year ago I was a first responder myself,” Bell said. “I slept with the phone by my bed, and if it rang I knew that it was time to roll.”
As a retired fire chief, Bell said he understands the challenging job facing chiefs today. Retired from the Toledo Fire Department, Bell said he has surrounded himself with staff from volunteer and part-paid departments so that his office can meet the needs of and support fire departments around the state. Bell said the experienced staff also gives him a broader picture of the fire service.
Bell told the chiefs he was interested in finding out how to better support them, and in establishing better working relationships between the state and local departments.
“Part of what we’re doing is a lot of outreach to various areas of the state. We realize that we work for you,” Bell said. “And we work for the citizens that you work for in your various communities and we just wanted to be able to do some outreach.
“I think that if we’re supposed to be supporting the various communities and supporting you and what you do, the only way we can do that is we need to put legs on the ground. We need to be able to look at people eye to eye. We need to be able to establish relationships, and then that way we can find out what you need, and then be able to adjust our agendas at the state fire marshal’s office to be able to help you with some of the concerns that you may have.”
Bell said that in the past, people may not have known who the Ohio fire marshal was, but his administration plans to change that by becoming personally involved with the fire departments and the citizens the office serves.
“The only way I can do that, personally myself, and it’s always been my style, is just to do this face to face,” he said. “And, yes, I could sit behind a desk and probably accomplish maybe one-fourth of this, but mine is to accomplish 110 percent.”
Bell said he thinks it will make a difference that he and his chief deputy, Don Cooper, are not only both retired firefighters, but also paramedics. He believes this is the first time in the history of the fire marshal’s office that the two top officials understand the challenges facing firefighters and paramedics in the field.
“Everybody goes home,” Bell told the chiefs, describing the first of his top three agendas. “We still lose way too many firefighters in the United States. We need to rethink how we’re doing things, and figure out what is important, what is actually worth risking your life, and what is not worth risking your life.”
Many of the chiefs nodded as Bell talked about the choices the men in the room face at fire scenes where there is no life threat, but property is threatened. He used the example of a warehouse fire with no one inside.
“Can you justify that at some point and time to someone’s widow or widower, if you’re standing at a funeral, over the issue of what they were attempting to protect?” he asked. “Yes, property is important, but your life is also very much important.”
The fire marshal said the biggest life threat to firefighters in the state right now is the trip to the fire.
He described a funeral he attended in the Walnut Creek area when a young firefighter died on the way to his very first fire call. He recalled being on the back of an engine for his first call, and asked the chiefs to remember to the adrenaline and energy that filled them when they responded to their first fire.
He said that with firefighters responding in their own vehicles on country roads, it is easy for speed to become excessive when an emergency is happening somewhere.
“We need to rethink these issues, and how we teach our younger people inside the fire service, to slow down just a little bit,” he said.
Bell said another reason he came to Knox County was to establish accountability for his office, the second of his top agendas.
“We’re accountable to you. If we say we’re going to do something, we’re going to do it,” Bell said. “But if there’s any chance we can get it done, in trying to support you in all that you do out here in trying to make your communities safe, we’ll do that.”
The final agenda Bell discussed is outreach.
“You all should always know who your people are,” the marshal said, introducing Fire Safety Educator Steve Waltman, District Assistant Chief Keith Carroci and Inspector Roger Clark. Bell said these are the state people who are available to support the local departments.
“They are your link to my office,” Bell said. “But I’m also your link. You can call me direct.”
Bell introduced his new Code Enforcement Chief, Pat Wambo, a 31-year veteran of the Maumee Fire Department. Wambo said the development of a list of schools to be inspected by the SFM is still being developed. The fire marshal’s office is unsure how complete the list will be before next school year, but adding to the list is an ongoing process.
Bell said the Ohio code does not require his office to locate and list Amish schools and other unregistered schools within the state. But he said his office is committed to doing it anyway because he feels it is important to enable inspections of the schools. Locating the schools is a challenge that he acknowledges past administrations have not met.
“I know that we can do it better than we’ve been doing it,” he said.
The marshal said he wanted to present the issue to the Knox County chiefs because he believes the chiefs, as leaders in the community and problem solvers, will be able to help his office find solutions.
“Today, if a car was to fall right outside this building and drop down 15 feet, something probably nobody in here has ever seen, these chiefs here would figure out a way to get the people out of the car, get the car out of the hole, and fix the solution, and they’ve never seen it before. So if we present a problem to a bunch of chiefs, they’ll figure out how to fix it,” said Bell.
Bell said change will not happen in 30 days, but he promised to continue to make progress with locating all of the schools in Ohio that are required to be inspected, and coordinating with local departments to make sure those inspections are completed each year.
Many chiefs who attended the meeting acknowledged that being in office such a short time, Bell has a big job ahead of him.
“They’ve got a long way to go,” said Fredericktown Assistant Chief Larry Schunke. “But they’re going in the right direction. It’s just going to take time.”
Central Ohio Joint Fire District Chief Joe Porter said he thinks the marshal shares the vision of the local departments.
“I think he’s right on track. His approach to get on top of inspections — my department has the same approach. He’s 100 percent on the button,” Porter said. “Everybody has to work together to make it happen. You have to work with people in a cooperative way, that’s really important.”
Mount Vernon Fire Chief Shaun Christy said he felt meetings like the one Tuesday build important relationships within the community.
“I think it’s great any time you get state and local together to talk about issues. People with different viewpoints get together and can do better jobs,” Christy said.
“Every dealing I’ve had with Marshal Bell, he’s stressed safety and accountability,” said Christy, referring to Bell’s emphasis on safety and his “Everybody goes home” philosophy stressing firefighter and citizen safety. “Those are issues that are near and dear to my heart.”
“I did not get the feeling it was lip service,” Menapace said of the promises Bell made to work with local departments. “It was very sincere; he is there to support us. He’s a firefighter first.”
Adding that Bell is also a paramedic, Menapace said he felt Bell had a real understanding of the issues facing firefighters in a changing industry that is becoming more technologically advanced every day.
Menapace said he felt Bell has made himself available to support the local departments.
“It’s really nice to have that resource,” he said. “When we do get into something where we need some advice, I feel like I can pick up the phone and call Columbus now.”
Fredericktown Chief Scott Mast agreed that Bell had made it clear the marshal’s office wants to support the efforts of local departments.
“I think the Knox County fire chiefs have an unwritten goal to band together to improve fire service in the county,” Mast said. “The state fire marshal’s office is an excellent resource for us to achieve this goal and I believe their intent is to assist us in any manner possible.”
Menapace said the effort the marshal has made to reach out to smaller volunteer and part-paid departments has impressed him.
“For him to come to us, will really help with the the outreach with the smaller departments,” Menapace said.
