About the SW Ohio Trauma Cleanup referral line

Why a referral line for Cincinnati, Dayton and the counties around them

When someone dies at home in Norwood or a tenant leaves behind a hoarded apartment in Springfield, the Hamilton or Clark County Coroner and the local police do their part and then leave. Ohio puts the cleanup in private hands, and most families have never had to hire this kind of company before.

This site exists so a person standing in a Kettering hallway or sitting in an Atlanta hotel room can make one call instead of ten. The two numbers cover a set list of counties in the Miami Valley and along the Ohio River, and each call goes to a provider who takes jobs in that part of the region.

How the line is funded

Callers in Mason, Xenia or anywhere else on the list never pay to use the line. The cost of running it, including the phone numbers and this website, is paid by the cleanup providers who receive the calls. A provider may pay for each call routed to it, the way many local service directories work.

That arrangement has one practical effect for you: the price of the cleanup itself is set by the provider, in writing, between you and that company. The line does not mark up a job, collect a deposit, or take a share of an insurance payment from a Hamilton County or Montgomery County claim.

Because providers pay for calls, it is fair to ask questions of whoever you reach. Ask for the company's legal name, where it is based in Ohio, and whether it uses its own workers or subcontracts. Our guides list more questions to bring to the call.

What the line is not

It is not a cleanup company. Nobody from this site comes to a house in Price Hill or a farmhouse outside Greenville, and the site does not employ cleanup workers. Every job is done by the independent business you are connected to, under that business's own contract.

It is not an emergency service. If someone is hurt, in danger, or has just been found, call 911 first; Cincinnati, Dayton and every county sheriff on our list dispatch through 911. For thoughts of suicide, your own or a loved one's, dial or text 988; the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline answers there.

It is not part of government. The line has no tie to any county coroner, the Cincinnati Police Department, the Dayton Police Department, a sheriff's office, the Ohio Attorney General, or an insurance company. Those offices do not recommend us, and we do not speak for them.

Where the line reaches, and where it stops

The 513 number covers the Cincinnati side: all of Hamilton County and the counties that ring it, such as Butler and Warren, plus Loveland (45140), Goshen (45122), Leesburg (45135) and Lynchburg (45142). Milford, Batavia, Amelia and Hillsboro fall outside it.

The 937 number covers Dayton and the Miami Valley, from Montgomery and Greene out to Darke and Champaign. Farther out it reaches only named towns, such as West Liberty, Milford Center, London and Washington Court House. Bellefontaine and Marysville are not covered, and the table below lists every county.

Covington, Newport and the rest of Northern Kentucky are outside the service area, as are Columbus and Franklin County, Indiana, and Adams, Scioto and Ross counties. If your property sits there, a local directory or your insurer is a better place to start.

What the website itself provides

Alongside the phone numbers, the site publishes plain-language pages about each covered area, from Over-the-Rhine to Washington Court House, and guides on Ohio coroners, insurance, renting, and the state's victims compensation fund. These are general information, written so a family can understand the steps before the first phone call.

The town pages name the coroner's office, the police agency and the ZIP codes for each place, checked against county and city sources. How that research is done is laid out on the research standards page.