Fire Department Mutual Aid

Mutual aid response statistics were discussed 10/12. Bay Village Fire Chief Lyons reviewed the assistance given and received by the Bay Village Fire Department to our immediate neighboring cities from 1/1/15 through 8/31/15. While Bay Village runs at a deficit, Lyons believes the benefits we receive in return are fair. Council President Koomar expressed concerns that the numbers tend to “creep up”. “As other cities around us continue to grow and/or age, will this trend continue? When does this imbalance become a public safety issue? As Chief, how do you monitor this, and are there ways to make sure that mutual aid is still mutual?” Chief Lyons stated that the dispatch center will not call upon Bay Village if they are otherwise occupied. He iterated Bay Village is his first priority and they can and will decline so as not to put our residents at risk. Lyons stated this has been the trend for the last 5 to 7 years.

The aid Bay Village provided for surrounding communities was mostly emergency squad medic runs. Bay Village received mutual aid 28 times. Westlake obtained assistance from Bay Village 34 times, Avon Lake 13 times and Rocky River 12. 

The largest deficit is with city of Westlake. Our mutual aid relationship with them includes the Westlake service garage as the designated emergency operations center. None of our city buildings fit the requirements for an emergency operations center, required by the county as a place set up for administrative headquarters in the event of a disaster. Bay Village and Westlake are registered as the two cities for that center. Our pumps are sent to Westlake for an annual certification testing, a process which takes all day and involves a pit that would cost Bay “tens of thousands of dollars” to install. Westlake has a pit for this purpose and there is no charge for Bay Village to use it. The Bay Village fire fighters use their recreation center, off duty, for rescue swimmer training six to seven months of the year. Chief Lyons values their partnership as a mutual aid city.