TOLEDO, Ohio — When you hear bulletproof vests and first responders, you probably think of police and law enforcement. But Toledo Fire & Rescue Department is looking to add another layer of safety for its team.
Toledo police and fire crews found 12 people shot, one dead and 300 people on a scene when they responded to a call in the early hours of July 5.
RELATED: TPD body camera video shows scene of mass shooting at Fourth of July block party in central Toledo
"As we see with mass shootings all over the country, there are no guarantees, again this is just an added protection that we are working to get," said TFRD Pvt. Sterling Rahe.
As the magnitude of the shooting became more obvious, firefighters found themselves in the "hot zone"; the most dangerous place at the scene.
"Officers were protecting us, they were surrounding our crews to make sure we could be as safe as we could," Rahe said.
Now, they're looking at just over $100,000 to get 130 ballistic vests for city firefighters and EMS because this is just one example of what they can come across.
"Domestic violence calls, person shot, person stabbed, arguments, fights that are in progress and that kind of thing," Dept. Chief John Kaminski said.
They aren't alone. Recently Columbus, St. Paul Minnesota and Myrtle Beach approved the same gear.
RELATED: City council approves spending $300,000 for ballistic helmets, vests for Columbus fire crews
"We go on 60,000 runs a year and a bulk of those are EMS runs," Kaminski said. "That's 48,000 runs, so we go in a lot of people's living rooms."
Like the block party shooting over the Fourth of July weekend, each situation is different.
That's why firefighters say the vest is important to protect them while they're saving others.
Toledo City Council will be voting on the vests as early as next Tuesday.