Bath Fire Department
3864
West Bath Road
PO Box 1188
Bath, Ohio 44210
F.D. Business Phone 330-666-3738
FAX 330-665-1352
Our Mission: TO PROTECT THE HEALTH, SAFETY, AND WELFARE OF THE CITIZENS OF
BATH TOWNSHIP.
HISTORY
The Bath Fire Department was formed in 1945 as a volunteer organization, by a few members of our
community, under the leadership of Ross Duncan who was shortly succeeded by Don Cramer as Chief.
This small group of people responded to fires out of two stations, one in Ghent, and one at Hammonds
Corners (Ira Rd.), by leaving their jobs or using their time off work in the interest of protecting the
Township. "Neighbors helping neighbors" was the driving force.
As the years passed and the community grew, it became apparent that there was a need to expand the
services of the fire department by adding career personnel, better equipment, and emergency medical
services, while still utilizing the talents and manpower of community volunteers.
The two stations were combined and our Bath Road Station was first built on this site in 1951, with
our first career fire-fighters being employed in 1952. They worked 24 hours on duty then 24 hours off
duty, rotating every other day.
1962 marked the beginning of the Bath Rescue Squad. Then in 1964 the north wing of the station was
added and Larry Hershey, a charter member of Bath Fire Department, replaced Tom
Paulett as fire chief . The technology of the day for response notification was a system of ringing
telephones in the fire-fighters' private homes that alerted the volunteers that were needed for an
emergency. As technology advanced, the demands to continually train and educate fire-fighters was
paramount, and keeping our equipment updated has been a real challenge for those involved.
In July of 1992 - Gordon Hartschuh became the fire chief, and shortly there-after, our joint operations
out of Station 2 began with Copley Fire Department. The fire department today employees 46 people
and we can electronically communicate with them over most of northern Ohio. We are again
operating out of two stations, maintain a fleet of 13 emergency response and support vehicles, and
provide both emergency and non-emergency services to Bath Township, along with our automatic
response communities.
Jim Paulett was named Fire Chief effective January 1, 2001 replacing Chief
Hartschuh who retired April 15, 2000. Chief Paulett brings exceptional
people skills to his position and will emphasize communication and
cooperation. All Township residents are encouraged to stop by and meet
your new Fire Chief.
Personnel,
Equipment,
BFD Inc.,
Horse Show,
Training,
Services,
Special Ops

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