Packet: Tiffin City Council Work Session (09/01/2026)

City of Tiffin Fire Department | Progress Report | Tom Hartshorn EMS Program Development EMS represents a substantial portion of the department’s workload and remains an important area of improvement. Of the department’s 664 calls last year, 422 involved EMS, motor vehicle collisions, or citizen assists. That means that approximately 64% of the department’s call volume involved incidents where EMT-level, non-structural firefighters could respond. The TFD required all members to obtain Firefighter 1 & 2, HazMat Awareness and Operations, and EMT. We have multiple members who have no interest in being interior structural firefighters, but they want to run EMS calls and support the department in other ways. By our own rules we did not have a place for them on TFD. To increase our recruitment and retention, and ultimately provide more reliable call response to the community, I have tasked the EMS Captain with writing a new ordinance allowing us to have EMS only personnel. Potential benefits include: • Increasing the number of EMS responders. • Expanding the pool of potential department members, some of which might start as EMS only and venture into firefighting as well. • Improve call response reliability. • Reduce the dependence on the same, relatively small group of Firefighter/EMTs. • Increase staffing without requiring a longer training process. Staffing Analysis The most significant long-term issue being evaluated is staffing. Tiffin continues to experience substantial population and call-volume growth. The department has transitioned from approximately 300 calls in 2019 to an expected 700 calls this year. Compared to the 665 calls last year, this is another 5% increase while continuing to rely heavily on volunteer staffing. Most recently I have been evaluating options for introducing part-time firefighter staffing while retaining the paid-per-call volunteer membership model. One model being evaluated would provide two part-time firefighters around the clock using two 12-hour shifts per day. A second, more incremental model, would staff two part-time firefighters from 6:00pm until 6:00am Monday through Friday and provide two part-time staffed positions Saturday and Sunday for all 24hrs (2- 12hr shifts). These models are being evaluated based on: • Number of part-time employees required. • Minimum and maximum hours per pay period, per employee. • Estimated annual personnel costs. • Call-volume patterns. • Ability to maintain adequate staffing.