T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK Former St. Clairsville councilman Frank Sabatino, center, is honored for 24 years on the board of trustees of the Cumberland Trail Fire District. The board also took stock of the many challenges facing the fire district going forward. Pictured are Cumberland Trail Assistant Fire Chief Dan Grady, from left, Chief Tim Hall, Richland Township Trustee Rick Ferrell, Frank Sabatino, John Slavik, Fiscal Officer Matt King and St. Clairsville Councilwoman Linda Jordan.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Cumberland Trail Fire District Board of Trustees and firefighters honored former St. Clairsville councilman Frank Sabatino, who served on the board for 24 years before his retirement.

Fire Chief Tim Hall presented the award.

“I know those 24 years have seen a lot of highs and lows and trials and tribulations, a lot of devastation and a lot of positivity. Thank you for your time and your consistency,” Hall said.

“It’s been a pleasure,” Sabatino said. “It’s an honor.”

“I don’t know how many fire boards can be in as good a shape as you left this one in, across the entire state,” board member John Slavik said.

Sabatino was emotional as he recalled his time on the board.

“When I first got elected (to council) 24 years ago, they asked me to go be on it. I accepted, thinking it was only going to be a one-year assignment, but it turned into 24 wonderful years,” he said, adding he saw the importance of the fire district and board.

“It’s been a collective effort,” he said. “There’s been many, many changes. … We stood together. … Where we’re at today is due to everyone staying together for the good of the citizens of the Cumberland Trail Fire District,” he said. “Each and every day, each and every year there was challenges, and thank goodness we were able to accept those challenges and move on. … It’s been a wonderful experience.”

The latest accomplishment of the fire district was transferring ownership of the main firehouse on Marietta Street from the city to the district, which will allow the district to seek more funding for upgrades.

“This is a highly respected fire department,” Sabatino said.

During its meeting Tuesday, the board spoke about demands in 2021 and challenges going forward.

Hall reported 3,434 calls in 2021, a total of 249 calls more than during the previous highest call year of 2019. The four most-used vehicles were the district’s ambulances, with two vehicles responding to almost 1,000 calls each.

There were 2,905 emergency incident calls, including vehicle accidents, and 782 non-EMS calls. The district provided mutual aid to other departments 120 times and received aid 140 times.

Hall also noted a longer turnaround time for hospital transportation.

“These hospitals right now – whether it’s due to staffing, whether it’s due to COVID, whether it’s due to other ailments or illnesses and trying to get the patients the best definitive care and the treatment that they need – is becoming more of a daunting task for our employees because of hospitals being overwhelmed,” Hall said.

He said the district is considering expanding the pool of potential hospitals where it transports patients to include sites in locations such as Steubenville or Cambridge.

“However, that’s even a longer time the ambulance is out of service. And communicating with those hospitals, they’re seeing the same issues we are locally,” Hall said.

He also noted difficulties in finding and retaining firefighters.

“Retention for fire, EMS, law enforcement and just public safety in general is bad,” Hall said, adding communities such as Columbus are offering more compensation and smaller departments cannot compete.

“We’re competing with Central Ohio,” he said

“It’s a field right now we don’t see a lot of people going into,” Hall said. “Locally we need to internally and externally start getting into schools and see what we can do to motivate some of these young children.”

“Richland Township by itself is a vast area, and then you put in the City of St. Clairsville,” Sabatino said, adding that the city has grown since the firehouse was built in the late 1970s. “With the (Ohio Valley) Mall and the (Ohio Valley) Plaza, all the surrounding buildings that have been built, we need to move forward. … It’s been a very difficult two years with the COVID.”

Sabatino did not seek re-election as a councilman. His seat as the city’s representative on the fire district board was taken by Councilwoman Linda Jordan.