Building Toward a Fulltime Department for Improved Service

Early community fire departments were all volunteer and West Chester was no exception. The volunteer Union Township Fire Department grew with the community to include both fulltime and part-time crews.

Now, as the Department marks its 60th anniversary the move is being made to reduce reliance on part-time crews and hire more fulltime/career professionals.

“We are not the same community or Fire Department that we were 60 years ago or even just 10 years ago,” said Fire Chief Rick Prinz. “This community is now the largest populated Township in Ohio and it is the economic engine that drives Southwest Ohio. West Chester has nearly achieved build out and our neighborhoods are becoming more and more dense, even going vertical in many cases.”

Maintaining a consistent team of part-time firefighters has become a challenge and has affected the Department’s ability to adequately staff all five stations, and the impact on morale of staff who work an abundance of mandatory overtime. The Fire Department topped $1.4 million in overtime expenses in 2022.

The Department completes nearly 4,000 business fire inspections each year, and our call volume since 2012 has increased 51%.

As part of the 2023 Operational Budget, the Board of Trustees approved adding nine new career firefighters; and reducing the complement of part-time firefighters from 47 to 20.

Happy 60th Anniversary 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 badges for firefighters 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.

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

“West Chester has continued to attract great candidates for full-time positions. They come to West Chester for career opportunities, training, leadership and to be a part of a department well-loved by the community served,” Prinz said. “The biggest motivator has been our willingness to hire EMTs, paying them at a paramedic rate and sending them to Paramedic training at the Department’s expense.” 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.

In the Department’s 60-year history, there have been only three full-time fire chiefs – Jim Detherage, Tony Goller and Rick Prinz.