1. State Board of Emergency Medical, Fire, and Transportation Services
Ohio Department of Public Safety, Division of Emergency Medical Services
EMS and Fire Service
Recruitment & Retention

2. Certifications

3. Certifications EMS Emergency Medical Responder (EMR)
Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)
Advanced EMT (AEMT)
Paramedic
EMS Instructor
Assistant EMS Instructor
EMS Physician Instructor
EMS Physician CE Instructor

4. Certifications FIRE Volunteer Firefighter Firefighter I
Firefighter I & II
Hazard Recognition Officer (NEW 1/1/2018)
Fire Safety Inspector
Fire Instructor
Assistant Fire Instructor
Live Fire Instructor (NEW 1/1/2018)
Fire Safety Inspector Instructor

5. Fire & EMS Certifications (7/1/2019)
Firefighter = 39,087 (VFF, FFI, & FFII)
Fire Safety Inspector = 10,021
Hazard Recognition Officer = 18
EMS
EMR, EMT, Advanced EMT, Paramedic = 41,469
EMS Instructors = 5368
EMS Instructor = 1988
CE Instructor = 2978
Fire Service Instructors:
Fire Instructor = 4504
Assistant Fire Instructor = 275
Live Fire Instructor = 2122
Fire Safety Inspector = 138
Dual Certified = 27,095
Total Certificate Holders (Providers) = 53,337
Total Certifications = 100,742

6. Fire Change
-2232 (-5.4%)
Overall Change
(3.3 %)
EMS Change
- 480 (-1.1%)

8. 41,325

11. Service Demands

12. Fire (National)* EMS (Ohio)
*65 – 69% of all fire department incidents are related to medical response

13. EMS Certificates Summary
Includes statewide distributions by county and certificate holder county affiliations.

14. Highest Total Number of EMS Providers: Franklin, Cuyahoga and Hamilton counties.
Lowest Total Number of EMS Providers: Morgan, Noble and Vinton counties.

15. Counties with the highest total number of affiliated providers: Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton.
Counties with the lowest total number of affiliated providers: Carroll (26), Noble (21) and Vinton (24).

16. Counties with the highest number of primary affiliations: Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton.
Counties with the lowest number of primary affiliations: Carroll (17), Noble (15) and Vinton (20).

17. Counties with the highest number of primary full-time affiliations: Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton.
Counties with no primary full-time affiliations: Carroll, Noble and Paulding.

18. Counties with the highest number of primary part-time affiliations: Cuyahoga, Franklin and Montgomery.
Counties with no primary part-time affiliations: Carroll, Noble.

19. Counties with the highest number of primary volunteer affiliations: Mahoning (174, Wayne (187) Wood (206).
Counties with the lowest number of primary volunteer affiliations: Gallia (4), Morrow (2), Vinton (4).

20. EMS Providers State Mean = 41.56 EMS Providers State Median = 41.0
Lowest (median) Provider Age: Greene (38) and Hocking (39) counties.
Oldest (median) Provider Age: Belmont (47), Monroe (49), Morgan (47) and Noble (47) counties.

29. Fire Certificates Summary
Provider Census Based on County of Residence, Counties of Affiliation and Median Ages for Firefighter I, Firefighter II and Volunteer Certificate Holders.
July 2019

30. Highest Total Number of Firefighters: Franklin, Cuyahoga and Hamilton counties.
Lowest Total Number of Firefighters: Morgan, Noble and Vinton counties.

31. Counties with the highest total number of affiliated providers: Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton.
Counties with the lowest total number of affiliated providers: Morgan, Noble and Vinton.

32. Counties with the highest number of primary affiliations: Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton.
Counties with the lowest number of primary affiliations: Morgan, Noble and Vinton.

33. Counties with the highest number of primary full-time affiliations: Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton.
Counties with no primary full-time affiliations Carroll, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Paulding and Vinton.

34. Counties with the highest number of primary part-time affiliations: Cuyahoga, Franklin and Montgomery.
Counties with no primary part-time affiliations: Adams, Gallia, Guernsey, Hardin, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Noble, Seneca, Shelby, Vinton and Washington.

35. Counties with the highest number of primary volunteer affiliations: Scioto, Washington and Wood.
Counties with the lowest number of primary volunteer affiliations: Cuyahoga, Franklin, Summit.

36. Counties with most FF Is: Montgomery, Trumbull, Wood, Wayne, Mahoning, & Hamilton
Counties with least FF Is: Morgan, Monroe, Noble, Lawrence, Madison, Morrow, Harrison

37. Counties with most FF IIs: Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Summit, Montgomery, Stark, Butler, Licking, Lucas
Counties with least FF IIs: Monroe, Noble, Paulding, Harrison, Morgan

38. Counties with most VFF: Wood, Washington, Putnam, Columbiana, Scioto, Jefferson, Monroe, Lawrence, Ottawa, Stark
Counties with least VFF: Madison, Morrow, Van Wert, Fulton, Union

39. Fire Providers State Mean = 41.21 State Median = 40.0
Lowest (median) Provider Age: Darke and Montgomery counties.
Oldest (median) Provider Age: Belmont, Monroe and Morgan counties.

40. Highest Mean Age: Franklin (51), Belmont (48), Cuyahoga (46), Washington (46), Morrow (46) , Summit (45)
Lowest Mean Age: Monroe (31), Pickaway (32), Fayette (32) Muskingum (33),

41. Highest Mean Age: Lawrence (47), Gallia (46) Coshocton (44), Williams (44), Paulding (44)
Lowest Mean Age: Harrison (35), Mercer (35), Darke (36), Shelby (36), Carroll (36), Monroe (36)

42. Highest Mean Age: Madison (58), Mahoning (53), Summit (52), Marion (52), Cuyahoga (51), Paulding (50), Muskingum (50)
Lowest Mean Age: Jackson (38), Lawrence (38), Darke (39), Seneca (40), Richland (40), Noble (40), Tuscarawas (40)

43. Attrition Survey

44. EMS—Most Common Reasons for Attrition…
Aging workforce/retirement*
Low wages and lack of employee benefits given the job responsibilities*
Lack of career ladders (employee growth, advancement, and satisfaction)
Lack of leadership/poor management/hostile work environment*
Health and safety concerns
Professional identity and status
Continuing education and training requirements*
Conflict with non-EMS employment*
Family obligations*
Disabled
Non-EMS healthcare employment, e.g., nurse*
Certifications accidentally expired
Relocated/working out of state*

45. Fire—Most Common Reasons for Attrition…
Family obligations
Personality conflicts (volunteer vs paid staff in combination departments)
Conflict with non-fire service employment
Continuing education and training requirements
Response requirements/increasing call demand
Increasing medical care responsibilities
Salary/benefits
Aging population/workforce
Commute for full-time employment/no longer work in the community where they live
Department leadership/management
Decline in the sense of civic responsibilities/volunteerism

46. Recruitment & Retention Strategy/Activities
Evaluation of continuing education requirements
Quality vs Quantity
Competency assurance
Streamlining of reciprocity processes
EMS
Fire
Health & safety initiatives (safer working environment)
EMS and fire service training improvement (quality of instruction)
Adult programs
High school programs
Public information campaign
Training Scholarships
Recruitment & retention toolkit

47. Mel House, Executive Director 614-995-4752 mrhouse@dps.ohio.gov
Questions?
Mel House, Executive Director