The Madison Township Fire Department was founded on July 1, 1971. Originally, it started as a volunteer organization, which was housed in a portion of the Township Road Department building. In 1972, the Madison Trustees purchased a former vending machine business company and converted the building into a fire station. This building is still in use today as a Fire Station.
In 1972, the Madison Trustees constructed a three (3) bay garage on the West side of the Township to serve as a Fire Truck storage building for the volunteers. This building would enable the volunteer firefighters to more quickly access the trucks in times of emergencies. Station 2 has been renovated multiple times to accommodate living quarters for personnel.
In 1972, Phillip Ackerman was hired as the Fire Chief and became the department’s first full time employee. Chief Ackerman would go on to lead the Fire Department in developing it’s first Emergency Medical Service and a Regional Hazardous Materials Team. Chief Ackerman led the department until his retirement in 1998.
In 1977, The Madison Township Fire Department developed Richland County Control. Richland Control was a dispatch service for many of the communities in Richland County. Today, the communities are dispatched by the Richland County Sheriff’s Office.
The Hazardous Materials team was started in 1979. Once a regional team, the task of Hazardous Materials was turned over to the City of Mansfield Fire Department in 2017.
In 1981, Madison Township hired its first full time firefighters. Three (3) firefighters were hired to work eight (8) hour days along with a full-time Administrative Assistant. Today, there are fifteen (15) full-time firefighters, a full-time Administrative Assistant, a full-time Fire Chief, and twelve (12) part-time firefighters.
In 2000, a 5.5 mill Continuous Fire Levy was passed. It would bring in approximately six-hundred fifty ($650) thousand dollars each year. This levy is till in existence today and has never been updated for current milage and property values.
In 2006, an additional 4.0 mill Fire Levy was passed. It was with the money from this levy that the township was able to hire additional full-time firefighters. Due to rising costs for operations and extreme budget shortfalls, additional levies had to be passed in 2016 and 2019 to continue operating the fire department. In addition, billing for Emergency Medical Services had to be instituted to maintain EMS operations.
Over the years, the Madison Township Fire Department has assisted other neighboring departments by providing Emergency Medical Services to neighboring townships under contracts. Currently, Madison Township provides medical first-responder services to Lucas Village and Monroe Township in Richland County.
Currently, the Madison Township Fire Departments operates with a minimum manning of four (4) firefighters out of two (2) stations. Together, the two (2) stations respond to an average of 2800 calls per year. We provide Emergency Medical Services to Madison Township, Lucas Village, and Monroe Township. We also provide primary fire services to Madison Township in addition to mutual and automatic aid response to all of our neighboring departments.
In 2023, we responded to 2,842 calls.
The breakdown of the calls are as follows:
Structure Fires 28
Vehicle Fires 10
Trash Fires 11
Open Burns/Unauthorized 30
Grass/Brush Fires 5
Fire Alarm Activations 64
Good Intent Calls 25
Hazardous Conditions 58
Motor Vehicle Crash 181
Public Assistance 338
False/Cancelled Enroute 182
Emergency Medical Services 1910
As we move forward into the future, a comprehensive training program has been established to ensure each of our employees are the best trained firefighters in Richland County. Each of our full-time firefighters is being trained as Certified Fire Safety Inspectors and completing Fire Officer 1 training.
The current ISO rating for Madison Township is a 3 in hydranted areas and an 3Y in non-hydranted areas. It is our intention through proper planning and preparation to improve upon our scoring with ISO to provide lower insurance costs for our community’s businesses and residents.
One of the areas that is in need of improvement is our rural water supply. We have purchased a Water Tanker truck which will be capable of carrying three-thousand (3000) gallons of water. A plan is in place to fully equip this piece of equipment and to train our firefighters on how to properly use this truck.
