As Butler County continues to grow in both population and in development, the needs of communities countywide have expanded in tandem. Chief among these needs is speedy and efficient emergency service responses.

As different parts of the county’s emergency services each examine trends in their coverage area, three common themes emerged in ways that they have to adapt: innovation, collaboration and preparation.

Rob McLafferty has been Butler County’s 911 coordinator for 12 years, and in that time, he said there have definitely been increases in two separate factors: call volume and incidents.

“What’s important when you’re considering our job is that you look at call volume versus incidents. When we have an incident, we regularly have multiple calls. I would say, besides the period of the COVID-19 shutdown, we’ve had a pretty steady increase in both,” he said.

To counteract this, he said the center has added four full-time positions during his tenure, raising the number of full-time dispatchers to 22.

McLafferty said one key aspect to supporting the staff at the call center is continuing to search for new technology. In recent years, he said a lot of that technology has begun to incorporate artificial intelligence.

“There’s some AI-based products we’re looking at,” McLafferty said. “We never want AI to directly replace someone’s job, but we do want to explore how it could augment how we do our job.”

Some of the technology he has researched includes tools that are capable of making live translations and transcriptions of calls as well as flagging keywords from calls or transcripts.

McLafferty said as it advances, AI is becoming more and more prevalent in 911 centers across the nation, and he expressed a desire to keep Butler County on the “cutting-edge” of the technology.

“I know that AI is very new and seems scary to a lot of people, but there’s a lot of good uses, too,” he said.

One example he shared was RapidSOS, an AI-forward company that links emergency data from callers’ devices to the call centers.

Steve Bicehouse, Butler County’s director of emergency services, said exploring and implementing the newest technologies has been a tradition in the county that he wants to continue. He said, to that end, he works closely with McLafferty and the 911 call center to explore that.

“A lot of the same principles are coming to the emergency services management side of things.” Bicehouse said. “We are using AI technology as well, and we’ve started using a drone.”

He explained that they are able to do a grid search, where the drone takes pictures over a grid and the composite photograph is run through AI-powered recognition software to help review it. The drone is also equipped with thermal detection.

As for AI, he said specialized programs are able to create “very accurate” models for flooding. While cutting-edge equipment is making the work quicker and easier, Bicehouse said it is important for him to consider how much is being spent.

“It really is kind of an exciting time for us,” he said. “The equipment of course is quite costly, so we do our best to try to get the most out of every dollar we spend.”

McLafferty also highlighted the importance of collaboration between counties in the region. He said Butler County’s emergency services use a number of multicounty systems, such as radio, computer-aided dispatch and call recording.

He explained that when one county’s systems are overwhelmed, calls are able to roll over to neighboring counties. Most recently, the county took calls during some of the storm surges over the summer.

“I think, looking at the future, we will continue to share our systems and work together with neighboring counties as well as look for places where new tech, like AI, can assist but not control our responses,” McLafferty said.

Collaboration between emergency services does not only exist on a county level, but rather goes down to personal connections.

Chief Rob Shuler of Herman Volunteer Fire Company said while much of the nation is struggling from a decline in volunteers, the area has been specifically lucky to still have a good supply. All-in-all, in fall 2025, he said the company has about 40 or so active members.

“A lot of us grew up together. A lot of us have known each other since we were kids,” Shuler said.

He said he believes poor recruitment can be partially attributed to the amount of training required nowadays, as it has ballooned in recent decades. He said a big aspect when it comes to retention is, as chief, to have grace and to be mindful.

“You got to know when you can have some fun and you got to know when it’s time to be serious and do what you got to do,” he said.

Part of Herman fire company’s philosophy is to be leaders, not followers, which Shuler attributes to better response on the scene. He also said the line officers are not afraid to disagree, especially during meetings, but remember that they are friends at the end of the day.

“I’ve had (arguments) up there in meetings and when it’s all said and done, we all shook hands and said ‘hey, there’s no hard feelings here. I’m not mad at you. It was just a discussion,’” Shuler said.

Those interpersonal connections span more than just one company or department, however. Many friendships form between members of different departments as they respond to calls together.

For example, central Butler County is covered by firefighters from the city of Butler, Butler Township and VA Butler Fire and Emergency Services. For the past two years, members of the three companies have met once a month to hold a joint practice.

When they met in September, it was at the VA’s new fire training facility.

Ryan Enscoe, chief of the VA department, and Scott Frederick, director of emergency services for Butler Township, both agreed at September’s joint practice that they have seen benefits during actual emergencies. Beyond that, Enscoe said members from all three departments have formed friendships.

Similarly, in the northern section of the county, the smaller departments with less available resources are considering ways to deepen their collaboration beyond mutual aid responses.

To that end, municipal officials and emergency services representatives from Mercer Township, Marion Township and Harrisville met recently to discuss pooling their resources. While discussions in October were rudimentary, the group began to lay the groundwork.

Beyond that, another aspect meeting attendees noted was the importance of preparation in their area. They agreed northern Butler County has numerous places that without proper preparation, could result in a serious disaster.

The group decided it will be worthwhile to consider designing specific, rehearsed plans for some of these places, such as what a response would look like to Transitions Healthcare Autumn Grove in Harrisville.

In some places, such as Butler Township, a level of focus has been placed on evaluating the current capabilities of emergency services in the area. To that end, the township recently commissioned a strategic plan for fire and emergency services.

According to the strategic plan, which is available to read on the township’s website, while population has remained fairly stagnant over the last 25 years, the number of housing units covered by the fire department is 500 more than before.

As a result, the number of calls Butler Township district is sent out on has been steadily growing as well. When Frederick presented the study to the township’s commissioners, he recognized daytime staffing as a key point of focus.

Since then, Capt. Kenny Blatt told the Butler Eagle at the joint training in September that daylight staffing has significantly improved since the beginning of the year, in part thanks to the township’s stipend program.

“While the fire district is volunteer, we do have the stipend program to give an incentive to stay at our Meridian station,” Frederick said. “We pay them a certain amount per shift depending on what role they’re doing.”

Looking forward, Frederick said work to implement the strategic plan’s recommendations will be an ongoing process, but believes in the good working relationship the township and fire department has.