EAST LIVERPOOL — Both the city’s safety force chiefs provided updates to council’s Safety Committee Tuesday afternoon.

Fire Chief Bill Jones discussed a number of projects, including securing financing for a new fire station and arming the city’s Tactical Emergency Medical Service team.

Jones said that he is watching federal House Bill 3728 closely as a possible source for the money. Congress is considering the legislation, which would provide $2 billion to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to construct new fire stations throughout the United States.

“It has bipartisan support, and it looks like it will pass the House and go to the Senate,” he explained, adding that it currently is suggested that half of the money will be for career fire departments, like East Liverpool’s, while the other billion will be earmarked for volunteer fire departments. “It costs between $2 million and $4 million to build a station, and I’m unsure what the match would be.”

Currently the House is investigating making a series of blueprints and designs available to applicants to save those costs for departments to choose from.

Jones said that Central Fire Station’s location in downtown East Liverpool is perfect; however, he still is investigating other city-owned properties to see what the response times would be from the area to different neighborhoods in the city.

The current station is around 7,800 square foot, and he said he hopes to increase that to 10,000 and make it a one-floor station.

“We now fall under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration not Workers’ Compensation,” Jones said, noting he would like to have a minimum 32-foot frontage to keep the firefighters safe when they pull the aerial truck out to wash it.

In addition to possibly arming the city’s Tactical EMS, which would be deployed in the case of an active shooter situation, Jones also would like to open a training center at ELFD, so the department can instruct new firefighters in-house and not have to send them to Columbus. He is excited about the prospects associated with the center, but that is still a while in the future.

Speaking of the Tactical EMS, Jones said that establishing a policy to allow those members to carry a firearm if that particular team is deployed would allow them to protect not only themselves but their patients, while police are handling the bad guy.

“Most people bleed to death before people can get to them,” he explained, as the current policy with most jurisdictions is that the police effort enters first, and fire treats the wounded as they are triaged.

In June 2018, Ohio Revised Code 109.771 was approved by legislators. Jones has been working with Police Chief John Lane, city Law Director Charles Payne and Safety-Service Director David Dawson on a policy to put that in place in East Liverpool, as the team members are Ohio Police Office Training Academy (OPOTA) trained. They would not carry on duty unless the unit is mobilized and would have to qualify annually much like police officers do.

While police make the initial entry, the Tactical EMS would follow with teams of two (one treats the patient, while another stands guard).