MILFORD, Ohio — Kaiden Hartness was sworn in as a career firefighter/EMT with the Milford Community Fire Department during a ceremony held Tuesday evening, the department said in a Facebook post.
Photos posted by the department show Hartness taking the oath of office inside the department’s apparatus bay, his hand raised and resting on a Bible held by a department chief officer, in front of one of the station’s engines. His badge was later pinned during a separate part of the ceremony.
The promotion moves Hartness into a full-time role with a department that, like many in the region, staffs its shifts with a mix of career firefighters and part-time or volunteer personnel, according to the department’s employment listings, which describe the agency as looking for both experienced firefighters and paramedics and those “just beginning” a public-safety career.
The Milford Community Fire Department traces its roots to 1945, when the Village of Milford Volunteer Fire Department purchased a Seagrave pumper that remained in service into the mid-1970s, according to the department. Today, MCFD operates as a private, not-for-profit corporation contracted by the city of Milford, funded primarily through a fire and EMS tax levy — most recently renewed by Milford voters in 2019 at 17 mills, the department said. It runs out of Station 71 on Center Street with a minimum of six personnel on duty at all times, including a shift officer, firefighters, paramedics and EMTs, the department said.
The department also provides mutual aid beyond Milford’s borders, assisting the Loveland-Symmes Fire Department in the Camp Dennison area of Symmes Township and the Union Township Fire Department along Interstate 275 and Roundbottom and Beechwood roads, according to the department. MCFD is led by Fire Chief Mark D. Baird, supported by three district chiefs — James D. Nickell, Nicholas A. Thiele and Miles W. Miller.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Milford Community Fire Department.