Fire Board meets to receive updates on staffing

The Graafschap Fire Board met this morning to get an update from the fire chief on the staffing needs for the future. Minutes from the past meeting were also approved and available on the Fire Board page. The board is made up of two representatives from Fillmore Township and two representatives from Laketown Township. Advisory, non-voting members are Chief Doug DenBleyker, Firefighter Ben Draper, and Firefighter Jacob Infante.

The future plan calls for an 3 additional fulltime firefighters to provide 24/7 coverage that originates from the station. Currently, fulltime staff working during the weekday respond to calls when most paid-on-call firefighters are at their fulltime jobs. After 4 pm and on weekends, all calls originate from member’s homes. They must drive to the station, put on gear, and drive trucks to the emergency. In the case of a medical call, members respond directly from home with a duty officer driving a department response car from home. AMR Ambulance also responds on all medical calls, vehicle crashes, and confirmed fires.

Another update from the chief, was the status of the new commercial chassis pumper/tanker that was approved and ordered in the fall of 2023. The total cost of the apparatus is $578,000, which is considerably lower then a custom-cab apparatus which can approach over $900,000. The chassis (pic below) has been delivered to Spencer Manufacturing in South Haven and will go into the production line soon. For the first time in many decades, the fire board and both townships agreed to pay cash for the $160,000 chassis from the fund balance instead of rolling that cost into financing. Today’s minutes will be posted when approved at the next fire board meeting.