ELYRIA — A report of a fire on East Avenue went unanswered for 16 minutes Saturday — prompting fire officials to change the way such calls are handled.

Firefighter Robert Resar, handling dispatching duties, didn’t send a crew out after receiving a call at 10:08 p.m. from a man who said he smelled smoke in the area of East Avenue and Sixth Street. It took a call from another neighbor 16 minutes later to get the engines moving to a home in the 600 block of East Avenue.

The fire did an undetermined amount of damage to the second floor of a home reported to be the fourth oldest in the city.

Fire Chief John Zielinski said effective immediately, an engine — if available — must be sent out to investigate any calls of smoke.

Before Saturday, the standing policy gave the dispatcher the authority to decide whether sending a truck was warranted based on the information received.

 “I’m saying this has to be done regardless of how sure they are that it’s another matter,” he said. “We know now — after the fact — it looks bad because (Resar) made a bad call.”

On Saturday, Resar was acting as the department’s watchman — meaning he was answering and dispatching emergency and nonemergency calls. It is a job Zielinski said Resar has performed well numerous times in his more than 10 years with the department.

He said Resar will not face any discipline as a result of the incident.

“He feels bad about this, and I know he will never make that decision again, but it was nothing deliberate on anyone’s part to not go out,” Zielinski said.

According to a recording of the calls in question, the initial call to the Fire Department lasted less than a minute.

 The male caller asked the dispatcher if the department had received any calls around the East Avenue and Sixth Street area because he lived in that area and could smell “a terrible smoke smell in the air.” The caller said he could not see a fire, nor could he say where the smoke was coming from, but he did say the air was very smoky.

Resar told the caller what he smelled was likely smoke from a wood burner that was lingering in the air because of the cool temperatures, according to a recording of the call.

It wasn’t until 16 minutes later — when neighbor Sheri Waller called, saying she smelled smoke and saw a glow in her neighbor’s window — that a crew was sent to the home owned by Mike Toomey at 605 East Ave.

By the time the fire crew arrived, a second-floor bedroom was ablaze and a neighbor was reporting to firefighters that Toomey was trapped inside, said assistant fire chief Ron Brlas, who was first on scene.

That turned out not to be true as Toomey was out for the evening. However, firefighters went into the house under the assumption that a rescue was needed.

“I guarantee you we would have been out the door on the first call if we knew it was a fire,” Brlas said. “The sooner we get there, the easier the work will be. We have no reason not to respond. That’s our job. That’s what we’re paid to do and that’s what we love to do.’’

The department has been complaining about its staffing levels, and Mayor Bill Grace reduced the minimum manpower from 17 to 14 to try to get a handle on the department’s overtime. However, the incident Saturday was not related to staffing, Brlas said, as 13 firefighters were sent when the second call came in and there were no calls for service between them.

 The fire damaged the second floor of Toomey’s house, but he holds no ill will against the Fire Department.

“What’s done is done,” he said Monday as he milled around the home. “I heard things around the neighborhood that there was another call. All I know is when they got here, they did a good job knocking the fire out.”

Brlas said crews worked fast to contain the fire to one bedroom and the second-floor hallway. There is heat damage to the rest of the second floor and water damage on the first floor, he said.

There was no evidence the damage could have been lessened had firefighters arrived earlier, he said.

Toomey said he is insured and will restore his home. It not only has sentimental family value, but it also has historic value to the city, he said.

“This was a family home. My parents raised five kids in this house, and I’m the only one living in it now,” he said. “But I believe it’s supposed to be like the fourth oldest house in Elyria.”

The home, located at 605 East Ave., was built in 1837, according to the Lorain County Auditor’s Web site.

According to an article published on May 31, 1970, in The Chronicle-Telegram, the property where the home sits was originally deeded by city founder Heman Ely to the Rev. Daniel W. Lathrop in 1824 for the price of $1.

Lathrop, the first minister in Elyria and pastor of what is now First Congregational Church, built a two-story home on the grassy knoll, according to the article.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

 

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