From the Statehouse 2006 No. 19
by Jennifer Garrison
Jun. 10, 2006
FROM THE STATEHOUSE – 2006 ARTICLE 19
Today, I will continue to discuss the bills passed in the marathon session the week of May 20th. House Bill 401 is known as the Fire Training Bill. Currently in Ohio, firefighters are certified once and are certified for life. Ohio requires no continuing education training.
House Bill 401 requires the Executive Director of the State Board of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) with the assistance of the Firefighter and Fire Safety Inspector Training Committee to: establish requirements for firefighter training; issue and maintain certificates including continuing education; define the terms firefighter, volunteer firefighter and part-time paid firefighter. The Training Committee has representatives from the Volunteer Firefighters Association, the Professional Firefighters Association, and the Fire Chiefs Association.
Ohio needs to update its fire training laws. We need accurate information on the number of functioning firefighters in Ohio. Today, when a firefighter retires, quits or dies they are not taken off the firefighter roster.
During the debate over House Bill 401 I was very aware of the numerous volunteer firefighter units in Washington, Noble, Monroe, Guernsey and Muskingum counties. I understand these volunteers have jobs and families and we cannot implement overly burdensome requirements or we will lose their services.
I held a meeting with the state Firefighter groups and all the firefighter units were invited in the district I represent. The meeting was very helpful. Many in attendance understand the need for firefighter continuing training requirements and already meet those requirements.
The problem with this bill is that the continuing training requirements are not stated in law. Instead, this will be accomplished by the rule process known as JCARR (Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review). The proposed rules are not overly burdensome. But rules can be changed and volunteer firefighters and their association will have to pay close attention to any proposed rules changes in future years.
House Bill 401 states, the rules cannot require more than 36 hours of training for volunteer firefighters initial certification, which is current law. Fire chiefs have the authority to approve and sign off on the type of training at the time of certification renewal.
The proposed Rules will require 18 hours a year, or 1 ½ hours a month of continuing education training for volunteer firefighters. The Volunteer Firefighters I spoke to already have continuing education training sessions at their fire stations on a regular basis.
The proposed rules will introduce a 3 year certification card. This will allow the State of Ohio to track and report the actual firefighters in the State. With this data Ohio will be able to demonstrate whether certain areas of the State are under- served by EMT’S and Firefighters and therefore become eligible for recruitment and retainment grants for volunteer fire departments.
I was not able to garner support to place the continuing training hours in the legislation, so these requirements will go through the JCARR process. During JCARR volunteer and professional firefighters will have the opportunity to offer testimony regarding any changes to the requirements.
In the end, I voted “yes”, because the state needs to have a mechanism to track how many firefighters are active in Ohio as it affects potential grant monies. Also, I want the firefighters to be as safe as possible and continuing training is a key component. The bill passed. I will continue to monitor the JCARR process in the future to see if changes in the continuing education hours are proposed.
You can reach Jennifer Garrison at her Columbus office at 614-644-8728 or in the district at 740-373-2414 or by e-mail at jennifer@jennifergarrison.com. Her website is Riffe Center | 77 South High Street | Columbus Ohio 43215-6111 | (800) 282-0253 | District93@ohr.state.oh.us
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