Elyria has four 24/7 fire engines for first time since 2006

For the first time in nearly two decades, southeast Elyria has a dedicated fire engine to cover the area 24 hours a day, after the engine company was brought back Tuesday. Elyria Fire Chief Joe Pronesti said that in the past, the city was divided into four areas that each received constant service from at least one fire engine. This ended in 2006, when Engine Company 2, which long covered southeast Elyria, was discontinued. On Tuesday, thanks to increased staff levels, Pronesti said the department was able to relaunch Engine Company 2, which is now running out of Fire Station No. 1 on Cedar Street. "It just means better protection for our residents and our firefighters," Pronesti said. "... Our calls for service have nearly doubled and our medical emergency calls have just exploded, unfortunately. I am very happy, and I'd like to thank the (city) administration, they have been very responsive to our needs." Pronesti said that Elyria fire has seen a massive increase in its call volume in the years since it last had a fourth regular engine, going from roughly 3,900 calls per year to more than 6,000. "This has been a long time coming," said Assistant Chief Dean Marks, who is also and president of Elyria Firefighters Local 474. "(Engine Company 2) never should have been closed down then, the needs have always been and now that we have the expansion of the city down there with new housing and everything else. … It has been much needed. The guys are excited to see it back." Marks said that much of that call volume has been caused by the population growth of southern Elyria in recent years. "As the city grows, the services grow with it," Safety Service Director Chris Pyanowski said. "This was done in recognition of residential development on the southern side of town… and our need to be able to get there in the event of an emergency." Prior to Tuesday, Pronest said that the department would occasionally run a fourth engine to serve the southeast, but it was primarily covered by the engine out of Fire Station No. 4 which also covers northeast Elyria. Not only is Station No. 4 quite far from southeast Elyria — it is 3.6 minutes from Chestnut Commons, a roughly nine-minute drive for normal traffic — but sending Engine Company 4 to the south left much of northern Elyria without an engine, forcing ones from the other two stations to be dispatched for calls there. Engines are dispatched independently for emergency medical calls in their area. During a fire call, all engines and the department's ladder truck are sent to the scene. Marks said that having a fourth engine regularly staffed would allow more flexibility when there are multiple calls across the city at the same time. Pronesti said that having multiple calls at once has been an increasingly common problem. "We are close to 35 percent of our calls coming when another apparatus is out, what we call a double or triple hit," Pronesti said. "So 35 percent of the time, we have multiple units out on multiple calls. That is a lot, and when we only had three engines and a ladder truck obviously put a strain on things. (Having four engines) won't alleviate everything entirely, but having that fourth engine and 16 firefighters to be able to go to structure fires is huge." Both Marks and Pronesti said that the additional engine should also reduce response times overall. The department was able to reinstate the company because it recently increased its minimum staffing level from 15 to 16 firefighters, the number Pronesti said are needed to properly run four engines and a ladder truck continuously. That staffing increase was enabled after Elyria fire added three new firefighters in May thanks to a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, or SAFER, grant will award the city a total of $850,000, which will pay the salaries of the department's three newest firefighters for three years. With those new hires the department reached a tally of 74 total firefighters, its highest staffing level in nearly 30 years. Both Marks and Mayor Kevin Brubaker said that increasing staffing and dedicating service to the southeast were things that the union had argued for during union contract negotiations last year. "We are very grateful for Mayor Brubaker and the administration for allowing us to sit down and have these discussions," Marks said. "... And for allowing us to hire the personnel that we need and be able to open that engine company, it has been very needed in this city, and we appreciate everything they have done for us." Pronesti expressed his gratitude to Brubaker, Pyanowski, members of City Council and the Elyria Firefighters Local 474 union for making the return of Engine Company 2 possible. City officials said that now that the southeast has a dedicated engine, the next step is to build a fire station in the area to base that engine out of. Pornesti has said in the past that a fourth fire station in the city is needed "desperately." Pyanowski said that the city has been actively searching for locations where a fire station could be built and officials have even toured some sites, but none of them have been selected. There has been much discussion about development company DBR Commercial Realty donating a portion of the land that it owns along the Reaser Pointe Crossing connector road to serve as a home for the new fire station. Such a donation was not included in the development agreement DBR recently reached with the city to allow for the 422 townhome development, but Brubaker said he has continued to have discussions with DBR and its owner Dan Reaser about the proposed station. A 2023 survey carried out by the Kramer and Associates Group, a Cincinnati-based fire services consultancy firm, found that the city needed a fourth fire station in southeast Elyria to maintain desired response times. Engine Company 2 officially entered back into full-time service at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, staffed by firefighters Chris Chapman, Scottie Slauterbeck and Jacob Jones. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.