Fire houses are being shut down, jobs are going up in smoke, and lives are being put at risk.

Every minute, a fire doubles in size, so seconds count.

Melissa Watson only needed a few more. She died in July after a group home for the disabled in Warren caught fire.

Watson’s sister, Adora Drennen, said, "She must have been scared out of her mind and not understood why this was happening to her."

Drennen described Watson's last moments alive.

"Her instinct was to run to her safe haven -- which was her bedroom -- and that's where the firefighters ended up finding her. She was unconscious in her bedroom," Drennen explained.

A Warren police officer was also trapped inside and frantically called for help.

The nearest fire station was less than 30 seconds away. But the station is closed. So instead of just the half-mile drive, the nearest station is more than twice as far away.

Drennen said, "That makes it hard when you have to respond all the way from across town. That five minutes could have maybe, possibly saved Melissa's life."

NewsChannel5 found case after case of closed and shuttered fire stations, all victims of a bad economy and budget cutbacks.

Krystol Wotring lives near an Elyria home where an elderly couple died last April. The nearest fire station was closed.

"It's ridiculous that the closest fire station is downtown. This one should open up over here," Wotring said.

"As you close stations you increase those response times," said Dean Marks, an Elyria firefighter.

On the day of the interview, NewsChannel5 found Marks not in Elyria, but in North Ridgeville, where there weren't enough firefighters on hand to fight a barn fire.

For hours, Elyria firefighters and their life-saving equipment were miles away from neighborhoods they're supposed to protect.

"Our Ladder 7, which was in Elyria to protect Elyria, is now in North Ridgeville fighting a fire. So that leaves us no ladder crew there," Marks explained.

Joe Diemert is an attorney who often represents firefighters when they're told, "Nobody has died yet, so we need another couple hundred thousand dollars taken out of your budget."

Diemert said that when Shaker Heights Fire Chief Donald Barnes refused to go along, Mayor Earl Leiken fired him.

But the NewsChannel5 investigation into fire department records shows cutbacks across Ohio.

And in just the following six cities alone, 95 firefighters have been let go:

• 38 fewer firefighters in Akron
• 20 in Mansfield
• 15 in Canton
• 11 in Elyria
• 6 in Shaker Heights
• 5 in North Olmsted

And in Warren, where Melissa Watson died, 11 firefighters were laid off and the station just down the street was shut down.

Drennen said, "She didn't do anything to anybody and she didn't deserve this and nobody in our family deserves to live with this for the rest of our lives."

Even if you never have a fire, you could be affected by cutbacks.

NewsChannel5 checked with the nation's insurance industry. They keep a close eye on reductions in fire departments because that can lead to an increase in what you pay in your homeowners' insurance policy.

Related Link:

• FireFighterCloseCalls.com