Liberty Twp. recognizes firemen

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POWELL — Liberty Township’s newest firemen received a standing ovation from family and residents after being sworn in during the Liberty Township Board of Trustees meeting Monday.

The four new firefighter/paramedics are Conrad Joseph, coming from the Newark Fire Department; Lyndon Kauffman, coming from the Piqua Fire Department; Joshua Lanning, coming from the New Philadelphia Fire Department; and Timothy Stump, coming from the Genoa Township Fire Department.

Trustee Chair Shyra Eichhorn asked Fire Chief Thomas O’Brien to do the swearing in, and their wives/significant others pinned their badges.

“Welcome to the family!” O’Brien said, and those who filled the township hall’s seats stood and applauded.

Chief O’Brien also made a presentation of Badge 1 to firefighter Scott Young. The Badge 1 goes to the senior-most firefighter in the department. Typically, the firefighter will wear that badge until they retire.

“The new guys will all be looking up to (Young) as they begin their journey,” states the LTFD Facebook page.

Lastly, O’Brien presented Fire Prevention Officer Lt. Tim Jensen a plaque in recognition of his 30 years of full-time service.

The firemen and half the audience went into a neighboring room for a reception.

The LTFD Facebook page states, “The Liberty Township Fire Department is an all-career full time fire department composed of 41 firefighter/paramedics. We operate out of two fire stations and cover the city of Powell as well. We are funded almost solely from a fire levy that voters must support in order to maintain service to the community.”

The trustees later unanimously approved maintenance contracts for the fire department’s EMS power cots and heart monitors.

In other business, Dr. Warren Yamarick’s contract for medical director services was approved.

The Gazette had previously reported that “Yamarick was replaced with The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center as Liberty Township’s medical director in January 2019 by the prior board after he stood up in a trustees meeting to voice his opinion about having only two paramedics to an ambulance. In a 2-0 vote, (trustee Mike) Gemperline recused himself due to pending litigation between him and Yamarick, the board approved the resolution” at its Jan. 2 meeting.

Those that remained in the attendance applauded Yamarick.

https://www.delgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2020/02/web1_DSCF6792.jpgGary Budzak | The Gazette

By Gary Budzak

[email protected]

D. Anthony Botkin contributed to this story. Gary Budzak may be reached at 740-413-0906 or on Twitter @GaryBudzak.

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