Warren has signed EMS contracts with most of its neighbors – but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still storm clouds gathering on the EMS horizon.

Recently, the city fire department found itself responding to calls in Pleasant and Glade townships while, within the same hour, there were two calls inside the city limits.

“We’re seeing more of those more frequently recently,” said Dave Krogler, Warren fire chief, during a recent City Council meeting. “It’s not been unmanageable at this point, but we’re seeing an uptick in the frequency of multiple calls. We still maintain, especially on the EMS side, at least one ambulance and we run (quick response service). So we’re still able to hold. We’ve had a couple of instances where we reserved one ambulance per the council’s wishes.”

The city has 10 agreements with neighboring townships to provide back-up EMS coverage if volunteer firefighters or EmergyCare aren’t available to respond. Volunteer fire department staffing has been an issue statewide, with Warren County no exception. City officials have moved to find compensation from neighbors on mutual aid EMS calls because the city’s firefighters were responding to a rising number of calls outside the city limits – which in the city’s view meant city resources were being spent outside the city’s limits without compensation.

While the agreements help pay the city’s cost to provide EMS coverage outside of the city limits, both Krogler and Councilwoman Danielle Flasher said the struggles to provide EMS coverage in rural areas surrounding the city of Warren aren’t going away any time soon. Flasher, who represents the City Council at the Warren County Council of Governments, said EMS coverage has remained a regular topic of discussion at COG meetings.

“We’re going to start seeing that reliance on our services because we’re mandated to respond if we’re called out, but at COG it’s been an issue.”

Council members also questioned a portion of Police Chief Joe Sproveri’s report regarding Megan’s Law notifications, which have increased from zero at this point in 2024 to 15 in 2025. Sproveri said that doesn’t necessarily mean the city is seeing more sex offenders moving into Warren, but only that there has been more movement that requires officers to handle public notification.

“So any time we have to do a community notification, whether somebody moves or there’s a change of employment the State Police gives us all the information and we go deal with that,” Sproveri said. “There’s been an increase in that this year. As far as an actual sexual assault type of Megan’s Law violation, that wouldn’t really be applicable for that line.”