Emergency Services

The Citizens volunteered as firefighters when a fire occurred in the early days of the community. The hamlet acquired a “Hand Pumper” in 1839 manufactured by the Douglas Factory in Middletown, Connecticut, which is believed to be one of the oldest in the United States. It was derisively called “Doc Porter’s Squirt Gun” since, as Mayor Dr. J. F. Porter was responsible for its purchase and some in the community did not appreciate the need for it. This Hand Pumper is now on display at the Western Reserve Fire Museum and Education Center in Cleveland Ohio.

In these early days the first volunteer to arrive at the fire station with his horse to pull the hand-pumper was paid $5.00 and this generated competition for the honor.

The Newton Falls Fire District was organized in February 1893 as a volunteer organization of between ten and fifteen members. Newton Township had its own equipment and contracted with the village for manpower. The NF Joint Fire District was created in January 1994 with both the village and the township appointing members to the governing board and sharing the operating cost of the fire department. In 1995 the fire department members requested permission from the Fire Board to begin operating Emergency Medical Services. This was approved and the District did not seek any additional revenue from the Township or City. The Fire Board did not ask its citizens for an operating levy for this service and total EMS calls for 1995 was a mere seventy-seven. In year ending December 31, 2007, the fire department responded to 660 calls. In 2021 the district ran a record number of calls totaling 2095.