Butler county’s two largest townships — Liberty and West Chester — have forged an automatic mutual aid agreement to ensure crews get on every fire scene as quickly as possible.
“Our residents should not care what it says on the side of the truck, whether it says West Chester, Liberty, Sharonville, nor should they care what color the truck is,” West Chester Twp. Fire Chief Rick Prinz said. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be a West Chester truck to provide the fastest, most efficient emergency service. The emergency service is what counts because we know that a structure fire typically doubles in size every minute it burns.” Liberty Twp. Fire Chief Ethan Klussman said fire departments universally have mutual aid agreements, but with the “automatic” response, for example, a fire at Liberty Center would trigger first responses from both jurisdictions, instead of one having to call for the help.