The Newbury Township Fire Department held its first swearing in Nov. 13 at the newly-expanded fire station.
The Newbury Township Fire Department held its first swearing in Nov. 13 at the newly-expanded fire station.
The addition to the station, at 11111 Kinsman Road, was made possible after voters passed a 5.5-mill levy in November 2021 to fund the expansion and add more staffing to the fire department, which was an all volunteer-department before August.
“Having three firefighters and medics at the station 24/7 will provide much faster call response in the township,” said Fire Chief Ken Fagan in 2021.
Last Wednesday, Fagan touched on the department’s transition to being fully staffed.
“We constructed interviews over a couple of months (and) on the way we ran into a bunch of growing pains,” he said. “We never interviewed people before.”
Fagan said they started staffing in August and hired five full-time staff and some part-time staff.
“We plan on expanding that even more,” Fagan said.
Geauga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Carolyn Paschke, who swore in the new staff members, said she’s happy about the growth of the department.
“I’m very grateful for the Newbury Fire Department going back to my youth and times when people I know, people I care about, have needed their help and they’ve always been there for them,” Paschke said. “I want to congratulate you on your new beautiful, new addition and it’s great to see that you’ve been able to expand and grow.”
At the end of the ceremony, loved ones pinned the badges onto their respectable firefighters to honor them.
More information on the station addition can be found at https://www.newburyfire.com/station_addition.
