LIBERTY — A late April fire drew multiple agencies into the area in response, and the township’s fire chief explained the need for it, while also discussing an unrelated potential agreement with another department.

As part of his report at Monday’s trustees meeting, fire Chief Doug Theobald said the fire department brought in “a lot” of mutual aid for the Middle Road fire April 20, noting Girard, the Eagle Joint Fire District, the Youngstown Air Reserve Station, McDonald, Brookfield, Vienna and Weathersfield as all of the departments that responded.

“Most of that manpower was used to lay out 1,400 feet of large diameter hose to get to a hydrant; it’s an unhydrated street,” Theobald said. “We also brought in three tankers to sustain the water supply until we got tied into a hydrant.”

Theobald thanked the police department for controlling traffic because the fire department blocked Churchill to get to the hydrant.

He also thanked Road Superintendent Wayne Hickman, who wasn’t present, for his crew’s efforts in getting “hundreds and hundreds” of feet of hose back to the station to get it cleaned.

“Not only was it contaminated from the fire, but the whole area around the house turned into a giant mud hole; a lot of that manpower was used initially,” Theobald said. “We hoped to make a stop on the fire when we got there — basically, the whole left side of the house was well-involved, we hoped to get into the center of the house.”

Theobald said the fire had already run through the attic’s center before firefighters could get enough of the ceiling pulled down.

“It took a lot of manpower to pull all that ceiling and excess overhaul,” Theobald said.

Theobald gave much thanks to the agencies that helped them out with the fire, noting the weather made for “workable conditions.”

Theobald said Tuesday afternoon that the fire is still under investigation.

MUTUAL AID

Theobald said the department is working with the Youngstown Fire Department on a potential mutual aid agreement, noting they’ve discussed response areas.

“I spoke with (Law Director) Cherry (Poteet) a little bit earlier; we are awaiting their law department to send back their recommendations,” Theobald said. “And we’ll send it to Cherry for a full review.”

Theobald said Youngstown would be responding from Churchill South and a couple of the high occupancy nursing home boxes.

“They are asking us to be available for high rises and large casualty or large hazard boxes for them,” Theobald said. “We are not providing mutual aid as far as EMS; they have a contract, so it would just be fire and reciprocal fire.”

FEMA APPLICATION

Theobald said he received a notification that the federal government has moved slowly enough that the FEMA grant application period has been reopened, which is why he was recommending trustees hire a grant writer.

“It is so competitive now — if you miss dotting an “I” or crossing a “T” — you’re out in a heartbeat,” Theobald said. “Considering we need to replace air packs, I think it’d be a well-invested dollar amount, considering how expensive those air packs have gotten.”

Theobald said the fire department would be looking at a cost close to $30,000 to replace air packs and bottles.