Happy 60th anniversary to the West Chester Township Fire Department!
Founded in 1963, the Fire Department was organized about 140 years after the establishment of Union Township. The Fire Department predates the Police Department by four years.
West Chester Fire & EMS began as a volunteer fire department at a time when our community’s population was about 10,000 people. Previously, fire service was provided by the City of Mason, Fairfield Township and Liberty Township.
Trustees ordered the first 50 firefighter badges and purchased a Sutphen fire truck for $8,000 in June 1963. On July 28, 1963, ground was broken on the community's first fire station near the southwest corner of what’s today Cincinnati-Dayton Road and West Chester Road.
The first volunteer firefighters officially enlisted October 6, 1963. They were: Carl Andrews, Hugh Bellamy, Myron Benner, Lawrence Cox, Edward Daniels, Chief Gerald Dawkins, Anthony Esseck, Benny Farmer, Carl Fruechtmeyer, William Gentry, Assistant Chief George Hall, Lieutenant John Herbert, Adrian Hicks, Mike Lewis, Jerome Liner, Captain Edward Mann, Robert McGuire, Lawrence Morath, Jr., George Moses, Thomas Newhart, Lieutenant Marcellus Osner, Ollie Owen, Don Panousnek, Nathaniel Read, John Roberts, Gene Rosselot, Ronald Rudolph, Captain Marshall Sipe, Charles Solsman, Richard Stewart, Woodrow Stewart, Paul Taylor, John Traum, Edward Van Skaik, Gene Wagner, Harry Walters, and Earl Wilcox.
About 200 members of the community braved freezing temperatures to celebrate the grand opening of Fire Station No. 1 with a dedication ceremony December 15, 1963. The first firehouse consisted of two bays along with one small meeting room and a kitchen. The project was bid at a cost of $6,000.
James Detherage, who previously served as a full-time Union Township police officer and volunteer firefighter, became the first full-time member of the Fire Department when Trustees hired him as Fire Chief effective May 1, 1977. Chief Detherage introduced paramedic service in 1982 and led the Fire Department through decades of change and growth until 2007.
There were several remodels and updates of that original firehouse and nearly 44 years after it opened, it was decommissioned September 10, 2007, the structure razed and a new Fire Headquarters rebuilt on the same site, opening with a dedication ceremony in late 2009. The 35,500 square foot HQ features a training room/emergency operations area, a training tower and mezzanine, six bays, administrative offices, a kitchen and living space, and an exercise room.
Today there are five continually operating fire stations, built and rebuilt over the years.
Fire Headquarters, Station 71 (1963, 2009) at 9119 Cincinnati Dayton Road
Fire Station 72 (1965, 1982, 2002) at 7715 John Road
Fire Station 73 (1970, 1992, 2021) at 4850 Duff Drive
Fire Station 74 (1999) at 8551 Beckett Road
Fire Station 75 (1999) at 7588 Tylers Place Boulevard
Connect with West Chester Fire & EMS at www.WestChesterOH.org/Fire.
Fun Facts
Fire Chief Rick Prinz leads a full-service, all-hazards department organized by Administrative Bureau, Operations Bureau, Risk Management Bureau, Loss Prevention and Emergency Medical Services (EMS).
Voters approved a new 2-mil levy in November 2020, generating about $5 million annually for fire and emergency medical services.
In 2022, West Chester Fire Department crews responded to 2,939 fire calls for service and 5,559 EMS calls for service. The total represents an increase of 7.1% from the previous year.
Firefighter/paramedics have met all standards of care outlined by the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline® EMS Awards program at increasing levels each year since 2015, including four consecutive Gold Plus level awards since 2019.
West Chester Fire & EMS personnel is dispatched by the professional communications officers who work 24/7/365 in the West Chester 911 Emergency Communications Center, a state-of-the-art Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) center located adjacent to Fire Headquarters.
The Union Township Emergency Medical Services unit was formed in 1969.
Fire service support organizations the Women’s Auxiliary and the Fire Department Organization merged in 1986.
Contemporary Fire & EMS reports, public safety data and more is available through DIG, an online transparency portal powered by OpenGov. Get started at www.WestChesterOH.org/DIG.
“Foundations” is a series of stories recounting momentous occasions in West Chester, Ohio history. Subscribe to the COMMUNITY REPORT e-newsletter and visit www.WestChesterOH.org/200 to learn more about Township history as we celebrate our 200th birthday bicentennial anniversary.