David Roth, left to right, Nancy Roof, Joe Thompson, Jerica Drapp, and Jim Roth discuss what happened at the Fire Training Facility in Piqua during the second Fire Training Committee meeting held on Thursday, April 25, at the Fort Piqua Plaza.
Eamon Baird | Miami Valley Today
By Eamon Baird
PIQUA — The Fire Training Committee discussed Nick Warner, the EPA, and engaged with community members during its second meeting on Thursday, April 25.
James Roth, Jerica Drapp, David Roth, Joe Thompson, and Nancy Roof were selected by the Piqua Commissioners to serve on the committee.
This special committee was established by a resolution adopted by the Piqua Commission on Feb. 6 to create a report detailing events that occurred between 2017 and 2023 at the Fire Training Facility. During that time, the site was occupied by the Energy Safety Response Group (ESRG) which burned lithium-ion batteries. In September 2023, ESRG was required to shut down operations by the city of Piqua and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The committee members said Nick Warner, co-founder of ESRG, used his company to take advantage of the city of Piqua.
“I noticed this Nick Warner, he bounced around, and he was with a couple of different places, the guy seems a little bit shady in my personal opinion,” Thompson said.
Frank Patrizo, law director for the city of Piqua, said the site was originally used by the Bowling Green Fire School (BGFS) but then Warner and ESRG started doing the testing at a more regular and aggressive pace.
“At some level (Warner) went beyond the scope and did it until he got caught,” Thompson said. “He put his hands in a cookie jar and took the cookies out, broke the jar and left our city and now we are picking up the pieces.”
Other committee members questioned why ESRG got permits from the city of Piqua in the first place and questioned if proper oversight was done.
“I just wonder more about the beginning about the intent of why ESRG was brought in,” David Roth said.
“I have issues with how a private company on public property using public entities,” Jim Roth said. “I have a second problem with the city getting the permits for a private company.”
Committee members said former Fire Chief Brent Pohlschneider reached out to the Ohio EPA with a lack of responses.
“He [Pohlschneider] was trying to reach out and he wasn’t really getting much back,” Drapp said. “I think the EPA was interesting because as time went on the EPA was broadening our permits for longer periods.”
“From what I can see so far Chief Pohlschneider did the right thing. I just think there needs to be a better program,” Thompson said.
The committee discussed the merits of having a fire training facility in Piqua.
“We need to maintain BGSU and their fire training school because they certify people,” Jim Roth said.
“Is the burning of batteries necessary for fire training?” Roof asked.
“The city took their eye off the ball and we lost institutional control of the facility,” Thompson said. “The point of this committee, as I see it, is to come up with policies and procedures to help find the missteps and put steps in place.”
Community members Jeff Grimes, Debbie Stein, and Alisha Lange, who have voiced their concerns about the battery burning since September of 2023, were also in attendance at the meeting. The committee engaged with them for their input.
“I’m sorry this has consumed my life since I found out about this,” Grimes said. “The stuff that we’ve gathered, the onion just keeps getting larger and larger and it’s insane. You guys had your work cut out for you, but there’s about three or four people that are six, seven, eight months ahead of you guys.”
“When they said there was training going on out there, there wasn’t any training,” Stein said. “There was never firefighter training going on.”
“We know what happened to a degree. It’s over its done. But it’s got to be understood and written that this city is not going to get involved in a private enterprise … The bottom line is you just can’t do it again,” Jim Roth said.
For the next meeting, the committee agreed to interview Grimes, Stein, and Lange to get their analysis. Additionally, Roof proposed five categories to focus on to discuss at future meetings:
• Commissioners and city staff;
• Fire and Police Departments;
• Regulators and legal matters;
• Institutions and companies;
• Community and health.
The committee also discussed establishing a master timeline of events before its next meeting on Thursday, May 2.
The committee will discuss the first part of their findings in a public forum at the next Piqua City Commission Meeting on Tuesday, May 7.
