Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
November is Carbon Monoxide Awareness Month and thanks to an anonymous donor, Kosciusko County Community Foundation, Kosciusko Fire Association, Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory and the other fire departments throughout the county, every home in the county will eventually be able to have a carbon monoxide detector.
At Wednesday’s WWFT Board meeting, Fire Chief Joel Shilling presented an agreement between the fire territory and the Community Foundation to supply smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and fire safety education to local families.
“We were approached by the Kosciusko County Community Foundation. They have a fund that was originally, when the donor made the fund, it was only for smoke detectors. So, how it would kind of work was we would purchase smoke detectors from our donation account, or from our operating budget, and the Community Foundation would reimburse us for those and those smoke detectors served the entire county,” he explained.
Just recently, another donor wanted to expand the program to carbon monoxide detectors and then some education to go along with that. Shilling said the Community Foundation has agreed to expand that fund, and the agreement before the WWFT Board was to purchase those smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and manage the fire safety education aspect of it that the fire marshal’s office already does.
“So we would basically be the pass-through from the foundation. We purchase them, we get reimbursed from the Foundation and then if Silver Lake Fire Department needed some or Syracuse Fire Department needed some smoke detectors or some carbon monoxide detectors, we would be who they would come to,” Shilling continued.
Part of the reason for that, he said, is because WWFT is there 24/7. “They can come to us. We already have them kind of in-house and in-stock and we can give them, so those residents throughout the county have this life-saving equipment that they need,” Shilling said.
The WWFT does have a donation account through the city that is specifically set aside for smoke detectors, and working with the clerk-treasurer’s office, that fund does have the provisions to expand to include carbon monoxide detectors.
Legal cleared the fund to include the carbon monoxide detectors and the agreement. The WWFT Board’s recommendation to approve the agreement will also go before the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety.
Mayor Jeff Grose said it was a neat thing the funding will help provide the entire county with smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
“Not only will the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory benefit from this, because we will be able to give them out as well, but this will also go to any of the county fire departments. These devices save lives and I don’t want to keep them from not having them,” Shilling said. “If we do not have this fund, they come out of our budget and then we have to restrict them and, unfortunately, that’s sometimes what we do now. If they don’t live in our response area, we have to send them to the other volunteer fire departments where someone is not always there. So, again, denying someone a life-saving device is really hard to do, just because they don’t live in your area.”
Grose said the donation will help the fire territory increase its reach to protect families, not just in the WWFT but the whole county.
Shilling added, “This isn’t just us doing it. This was brought to us by the Kosciusko County Firemen’s Association, so they’ve kind of agreed that Warsaw would be kind of that hub for the rest of the county, that they could come and get them. Most of this also wouldn’t be possible without the Kosciusko County Fire Association, so they’re a huge supporter of this as well.”
Grose asked what the procedure would be if he or someone else wanted a detector.
Shilling - speaking specifically for the WWFT - said they’d just have to stop by any of the fire stations and they’d have to fill out a form. The Community Foundation wants an annual report on where things go, so WWFT will keep track of names, addresses, how many detectors and if they own the home. “That’s our record saying we gave you a smoke detector,” he said. If a fire department comes and gets them, the same form is completed.
WWFT gives a maximum of one smoke detector per household. Due to funding cuts, they haven’t been giving out carbon monoxide detectors like they have been in the past, but the donor specifically wanted the carbon monoxide detectors to reach the entire county so WWFT will be able to give out one of each of the detectors per household, for the life of the detectors.
Councilman Mike Klondaris asked if the program was in perpetuity and sustainable. Shilling said that was the plan and he believed that’s why the donor chose to go through the Community Foundation, to help extend the program.
Klondaris said he assumed the donor wanted to remain anonymous and Shilling said that was correct.
“Well, I want to publicly thank the donor from this board. Thank you, very much,” Klondaris stated.
He made a motion to approve the agreement and the expansion of the fund to include funds for carbon monoxide detectors, Board member David Allbritten seconded it and the motion passed 5-0.
Promotions
The fire territory meeting on Wednesday began with the promotion ceremony for Tyler Colt to deputy fire marshal and Matt Koldyke to lieutenant.
Shilling gave Colt his oath of office, followed by pictures with his family. Koldyke then took his oath, followed by his wife, Shelby, pinning his badge on his uniform and photos with their family. All the firefighters from the WWFT present then took a group photo with both men.
Afterward, Shilling thanked the WWFT Board, saying it was a huge moment and the ceremony was a way to recognize the territory’s employees for their outstanding service. “Thank you to the board for allowing us to do it here,” he stated.
Monthly Report
In his monthly report for September, Shilling told the board they had 278 emergency responses with 89 of those (32%) overlapping. Out of the 278, 177 were medical calls; 38, non-emergency calls; 39 public service calls; 18, hazardous situations; five fire calls and one rescue.
The station 17 district had 149 of the 278 responses; station 13, 100; and station 15 had 29.
Also, of the 278 calls, it took 313 apparatuses going to those calls to effectively manage those incidents, he said.
In total, WWFT firefighters had 1,078.75 hours of training for a variety of topics. They had 9.75 community service hours.
Other Business
In other business, the board approved all the travel requests as presented. They also will go before the Board of Works for approval.
Shilling publicly thanked Heather Vogts for her service to the board and fire territory in the past and wished her well on her future. “She’s going to be missed,” he said.
Vogts’ last day as the assistant to the chief was at the end of October.
The next board meeting will be at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1 in the council chambers at City Hall.
