Three years ago, when people called 911 in Tiltonsville, they didn't know if anyone would show up.
This story is part five of our five-part series "Sound the Alarm." This long-term investigation reveals the crisis facing volunteer fire departments in Ohio and digs into potential solutions.
In the back of the ambulance, Peg Dugan could feel her husband's pulse fading under her fingers. She called out his blood pressure levels — not to the crew she usually ran calls with as a volunteer firefighter, but to her nine-year-old grandson Owen, whose shoes she hurriedly helped put on as she explained they had to save PapPap.
At 83, David Lemponen was in his sixth decade of responding to calls as a volunteer firefighter in Austinburg, a Northeast Ohio township that is home to a little more than 2,000 people in Ashtabula County.
He, with a half dozen or so other volunteers, worked out of the fire station nestled between the township building and an antiques store.
The smell of sausage and pancakes fills the Belle Valley Volunteer Fire Department every fall. But the breakfast isn't for the firefighters. With just 28 people on the roster, feeding the crew wouldn't require more than a couple of boxes of batter.
Three years ago, a fiery derailment of a freight train carrying hazardous materials upended life in the quiet rural town of East Palestine.
Each year, the National Rural Health Association trains nearly 20 rural medical professionals with the aim of expanding healthcare access for small towns.
This year, Ohio Northern University's own Emily Eddy will serve as one of 18 national fellows. She is a pharmacy professor and leads the Rural and Underserved Scholars program at ONU in rural Hardin County.
For decades, Ohioans have had multiple tools at their disposal to keep air polluters in check. But Ohio's budget bill passed over the summer strips away some of those options.
Now, environmental groups are suing Ohio to restore these rights.
If you've encountered prolonged construction on your morning commute, you may find yourself wondering: Why are they tearing up the road? Why is it taking so long? How have they not found a better way to do this?
In Teacher Maria Burris' classroom at the Spanish Immersion School in Mansfield, second grader Lucia answers a math problem about how many stones Lewis and Clark have, entirely in Spanish.
"Lewis y Clark tienen trece piedras," she begins, speaking carefully.
The earth sciences room at Springmill STEM Elementary school doesn't look like a typical elementary school classroom. There's a world map on the ceiling lighting up specific countries, a wall display where students can connect wires to learn circuitry, and a big table that simulates earthquakes.
