About

Established in 1971 after the merger of 2 community departments, the Big Walnut Joint Fire District proudly protects the villages of Marengo and Chesterville, along with 3 townships located in Morrow County. Sitting 20 miles north of the state capital of Columbus and 95 miles southwest of Cleveland, our district spreads over a total of 75 square miles that 8,232 call home. We are an all part-time and paid-on-call department that has 37 firefighters on roster. Currently, all 37 of our members are trained to the FFII level, with 6 trained to paramedic level. Our mission to protect life and property in our community is at the core of who we are and what we do. We take great pride in protecting a primarily rural area where 70% is wildland and agriculture, 20% is residential, and 10% is commercial/industrial. Our first due area only has 1% hydrant coverage, putting us on a strong reliance upon our 5 mutual aid agencies to assist with fires, which we have seen a 36% increase in since 2019. Along with our rural response, we also cover 72 lane miles of the heavily traveled Interstate 71. Running from Louisville, Ky to Cleveland, OH, I-71 is one of the busiest in Ohio. In 2018, 2019, and 2020, I-71 was deemed the most dangerous highway in Ohio due to the average of 18 fatal accidents each year. With an average of 50,506 commercial and 105,880 non-commercial vehicles running through our fire district each day, our response capabilities on this interstate are detrimental to the safety of all travelers and economic drive of our state.