NORTH COLLEGE HILL, Ohio — An Ohio fire department announced in a Facebook post that approximately 75% of its staff plans to resign.
The resignation will be effective at 6 a.m. on March 17. According to the post, those resigning have a combined service of nearly 170 years.
The resignation includes all chief officers, the majority of lieutenants, and the majority of the most senior and experienced firefighters and paramedics in the department.
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“We do not tenure these lightly as many of us have friends and family who live, work and visit NCH and we all genuinely care about all of our citizens. However, many issues have continued to persist for months and continue to go unaddressed,” the ‘soon to be’ former NCHFD members said in the post.
According to the post, the staff have had meetings, filed grievances, and have tried to work with city administration to address the concerns. The post did not specify what those concerns were.
“The mental, emotional, physical, and financial tolls have culminated to this breaking point. We’re sorry that it has had to come to this, we hope that the city can do better in the future and wish you good health. Thank you for trusting us with the privilege of serving and caring for you and your families in their times of need, it has been an honor to do so,” the members said in the post.
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Our news partners at WCPO reached out to the city, who said in a release that it was “surprised” to receive the mass resignation letter.
“There has been an ongoing investigation into several issues and concerns that were brought to our attention regarding the fire department,” the city said. “The results, to date, of that investigation did not provide the outcome they were looking for. Since this investigation is currently underway, we will not provide further comment at this time.”
North College Hill said mutual aid partners in Hamilton County will assist them and that there will be no interruption in service.
“We appreciate the service of our remaining firefighters and will collaborate with them to move forward,” the city said.