ROSS COUNTY, Ohio — Concerns over the future of the Huntington Township Fire Department continue, which has the department’s Chief taking to social media to voice frustrations.

Last month, the township trustees of Huntington Township in Ross County made an abrupt decision to restructure the way the local fire department handled EMS services. Trustees Larry Kellough, John Cottrill, and Gary Hopkins voted during a meeting to cut the hours of EMS personnel from two-person 12-hour shifts to 8-hour shifts, which left concerns regarding medical coverage in the township. The restructuring ended with several resignations, including that of Cuckler. Citizens and firefighters alike took to social media to voice their concerns over the decision. The uproar caused the trustees to schedule an emergency meeting last week to reverse course. In that second meeting, the trustees compromised and said they would keep the shifts but would cut down to one full-time position instead of two and would allow part-timers to fill the void. It resulted in Cuckler and others rescinding their resignation while a local committee was formed to create a plan on how the department would handle EMS coverage moving forward. However, since last week, things have — once again — changed for the small department.

Because of the uncertain future of the department, at least one full-time EMT has permanently quit, the chief said, causing manpower to go down, with an inability to fill the vacancy because applicants are afraid to accept a job that they might not have in a few weeks.

Trustees have kept the topic on hiatus since their meeting, meaning the issue continues to be ignored, Cuckler said.

The trustees have a regularly scheduled meeting on June 14 and the chief took to social media on Tuesday to urge citizens to attend.

“In 2016, I was part of a group of concerned individuals that took Huntington Township from a 100% volunteer fire department to a part-time paid fire department. This occurred because of a declining volunteer membership and an increasing number of emergency calls. In 2018, the part-time paid crew that worked 12 hours a day, six days a week, was expanded to 7 days, and then overnight on Friday and Saturday.”

He went on to say that in 2019 the township received a FEMA-sponsored SAFER grant (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response). With the grant, the department hired three full-time emergency responders and began manning the fire station 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In 2021, Cuckler said the department responded to more than 1,200 emergency calls for help, including 324 calls for mutual aid to neighboring townships.

“Get involved before you need help …. I am asking, please attend this meeting and force the board to answer questions about the future of fire and EMS services in this township. The board did meet 3 days after the May 24 meeting on May 27 to rescind the 40-hour work week schedule, but unfortunately, the damage has been done. Six years of progress were erased in 10 minutes on May 24. The comment was made that they would just refund all the tax levy receipts back to the taxpayers. So much for fire and EMS services.”