The Akron Fire Department (AFD), established in 1839, is a full‑time, career department serving approximately 62 sq mi of Akron, Ohio—home to around 200,000 residents.
Operating out of 13 stations, AFD is staffed 24/7 and organized into battalions that cover every neighborhood.
Key services & apparatus
Fire suppression: 13 engine companies, 4 ladder trucks, plus rescue, hazmat, water, and technical rescue teams.
Emergency Medical Services (EMS): 15 ALS ambulances, staffed by over 170 paramedics; they handle over 40,000 runs annually, averaging ~124 calls daily
Specialized units: HazMat, water rescue, technical rescue, dive, tactical medical, and command units.
Modernization & Community Investment
Thanks to Issue 4 (a voter‑approved tax in 2017), Akron has rebuilt or renovated three fire stations: Station 2 (2019), Station 4 (2019), and Station 12 (opened late 2024)
Station 12 (Wallhaven) spans ~16,800 sq ft, cost ~$9–9.5 million, and features three apparatus bays, six private dorms, a commercial kitchen, fitness room, decontamination zones (including sauna pods), hose tower, and improved exhaust systems to reduce carcinogen exposure
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. These updates enhance firefighter health, wellness, and operational readiness.
Leadership & Recognition
Fire Chief Leon Henderson leads AFD today, following Chief Clarence Tucker and former Chief Joseph Natko.
The EMS division marked its 45‑year anniversary in 2023, now comprising 153 paramedics and responding to over 45,000 medical calls in 2022
Department culture & accreditation
AFD is represented by IAFF Local 330 with ~350 career firefighters.
They maintain a Class 3 ISO rating and an average emergency response time of 4.5 minutes, which helps keep local insurance premiums low.
Leadership is cowardice. Bending to the city’s wants and not standing up for its members, multiple instances of refusing to address poor preformance and poor leadership. Chief positions involved in pulling aside, coaching, and amending applicant’s personal history questionaires (specifically referring to drug useage primarily.) Chiefs creating rules and regs which don’t effect them, only their subordinates. And multiple lieutenants who refuse to go into structure fires and always find an excuse to avoid fires and display utter cowardice and incompetence in the job.
Like a past comment said, cowards at the top. Always forming to the extremely incompetent mayor’s wants. The 15 med units that are mentioned in the description are down to 13 due to no longer offering overtime while being understaffed. No sign of hiring anyone in the near future. Engine crews are now responsible for the med units at most stations due to the staffing cut leaving many parts of the city uncovered while hospital wait times continue to get longer. Med unit crews wait on the wall at the hospital for extended times which makes that engine unstaffed at the station.
The crews and personnel who staff the rigs are great. Hardworking people with the same goal in mind (obviously there’s bad apples but you’ll have that anywhere). Lieutenants work to keep morale high at the station while fire/medics work harder than ever.
The Akron fire department is under poor and incompetent leadership. A regime change is desperately needed (starting with the mayor).
Good news though, upper administration approved a new department patch which totaled over $100,000 to implement! That will solve the problems.
Rating Breakdown
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3 Reviews on “Akron Fire Department”
Leadership is cowardice. Bending to the city’s wants and not standing up for its members, multiple instances of refusing to address poor preformance and poor leadership. Chief positions involved in pulling aside, coaching, and amending applicant’s personal history questionaires (specifically referring to drug useage primarily.) Chiefs creating rules and regs which don’t effect them, only their subordinates. And multiple lieutenants who refuse to go into structure fires and always find an excuse to avoid fires and display utter cowardice and incompetence in the job.
Resources & Equipment
Like a past comment said, cowards at the top. Always forming to the extremely incompetent mayor’s wants. The 15 med units that are mentioned in the description are down to 13 due to no longer offering overtime while being understaffed. No sign of hiring anyone in the near future. Engine crews are now responsible for the med units at most stations due to the staffing cut leaving many parts of the city uncovered while hospital wait times continue to get longer. Med unit crews wait on the wall at the hospital for extended times which makes that engine unstaffed at the station.
The crews and personnel who staff the rigs are great. Hardworking people with the same goal in mind (obviously there’s bad apples but you’ll have that anywhere). Lieutenants work to keep morale high at the station while fire/medics work harder than ever.
The Akron fire department is under poor and incompetent leadership. A regime change is desperately needed (starting with the mayor).
Good news though, upper administration approved a new department patch which totaled over $100,000 to implement! That will solve the problems.