Ohio Department Put Out of Service Due to Lack of Oxygen

The Rossford Fire Department was put out of service for three hours yesterday due to a lack of oxygen, according to WTOL-TV.

After notifying Reliance Oxygen that the department would be making a vendor change come Jan. 1, the company stripped the entire station of oxygen, Fire Chief James Verbosky told the news station.

Crews were left hoping they wouldn't be called out to service without the key life-saving tool.

"It'd be like a fire truck going to a fire without any hose or any water," Verbosky said. "In the event we have something bad go wrong -- cardiac arrest, somebody having difficulty breathing -- we need oxygen."

Rossford fire received some assistance from Northwood, in the form of two spare oxygen bottles, according to the report.

While they were out of service, mutual aid stepped in, Verbosky said.

"Our mutual aid partners are our friends," he said. "It's nice to know when we're in a pinch we can call them, they can call us, and everything's taken care of."

Rossford's new vendor has since made a delivery and they are fully stocked with oxygen and ready to respond.

The chief says a call has been placed to the Better Business Bureau and WTOL-TV called Reliance Oxygen for comment, but the call was not returned.