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About Us
Milford Community Fire Department protects the city of Milford from a single fire and EMS station located on U.S. Route 50 near Milford Parkway. The Department is a private, not-for-profit corporation contracted by the City of Milford for fire and EMS services. Milford Community Fire Department Incorporated is governed by a 7 member board that consists of residents and business owners in the City, and the City Manager. Even though the Department is private, we work "hand in hand" with the City Government and other City Departments
It's All About the Community
Geographic Information
City of Milford Area: 3.45 Square Miles
Population: Approx. 6,709
Number of Streets: 127
Fire Hydrant Coverage: Entire City
Counties: Clermont and Hamilton
General Location: Approximately 20mi East of Downtown Cincinnati, located along the I-275 loop.
Funding
Our annual operating budget today is approximately $2.7 million, most of which is generated by a Fire and EMS tax levy elected by the citizens of Milford. The most recent levy was in 2019 at a rate of 17 mills.
The budget also is supplemented with additional funding provided from ambulance transport insurance billing. The ambulance billing is “soft” billing meaning that medical insurance should handle the billing and not involve residents.
Staffing
MCFD has personnel on station 24 hours per day. A minimum of 6 personnel are on duty including a Shift Officer, Firefighters, Paramedics, and EMTs.
During daytime hours Monday through Friday, additional administrative personnel are on station including the Fire Chief, Administrative Captain, and Fire Marshal. During the nights and weekends volunteers and off-duty personnel respond to details along with personnel already on station.
It's All About the Community
The City’s fire protection rating from the Insurance Services Office (ISO) is a 3. The ISO rating is assessed by an insurance industry consulting agency. The rating scale ranges from 1 to 10, with 1 being the “best public protection” and 10 being “no recognized protection”.
ISO bases the ratings on many different areas of the fire department and community including but not limited to: effectiveness of 911 communications system, number and type of apparatus, equipment carried on apparatus, location of stations, number of personnel that respond to emergencies, training, and effectiveness of the municipal water system.
Insurance Services Office Rating (ISO Rating)
Mutual Aid
Mutual Aid in the fire service refers to Fire and EMS departments in an area helping each other at times when one community’s resources are tied up due to several emergencies, or for larger incidents that require more personnel than just one department can provide on its own.
The department often gives and receives mutual aid to boost the number of personnel and equipment available on emergency scenes. Having mutual aid from neighboring departments promotes a safer, more effective emergency scene and helps the department meet national standards.
In some cases the department responds automatically (automatic mutual aid, or "AMA") to assist other departments when our personnel and equipment are located closer to an emergency scene than another community’s department. We regularly help Loveland-Symmes Fire Department protect a portion of Symmes Township near Camp Dennison and Union Township Fire Department in areas along Interstate 275 and Roundbottom and Beechwood Roads.
Communications
Our primary emergency dispatching agency (911 center) is Hamilton County Communications Center. We also are able to be dispatched by Clermont County, Northeast (Loveland-Symmes), and Union Township Communication Centers.
When you dial 911, your call automatically goes to a communication center and they alert us via radio, alpha pagers, phones, and computers. Dialing 911 actually results in a faster response by us than if you were to call the station directly.
Two-way radio communication is via an 800MHz Digital Trunked Radio System with multiple talk-groups available for routine and disaster communications. The Fire and EMS dispatch talk-group audio is “patched” with the tone and voice paging system (on frequency 460.5000 Mhz.) to allow monitoring of radio messages by personnel without a two-way radio.
MCFD also utilizes a UHF system operated and maintained by the City of Milford and MCFD. This is a secondary form of communications for us in the event of a problem with the primary 800MHz system. This system allows uninterrupted operation to communicate with all of the other City Departments.
Part of our communications system is also a Computer Aided Dispatching (CAD) system utilized by the communications centers. This system automatically sends the appropriate units based on geographical location and number of units to an emergency even if we have multiple emergencies going on at the same time. A typical “first alarm assignment” for structure fires includes one MCFD engine company, two Mutual Aid engine companies, and one MCFD ladder company.
Meet the Command Staff
The men and women leading Milford Community Fire Department bring decades of combined experience in emergency response, fire prevention, and community service. Our command staff is committed to keeping Milford safe — on every call, every day.
