Mayor Lauds Firefighters For Heroics During July 26 Fire
Mayor Lauds Firefighters For Heroics During July 26 Fire
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Mayor Lauds Firefighters For Heroics During July 26 FirePraise for the life-saving heroics of Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory firefighters kicked off Tuesday’s WWFT board meeting.
Referring to the July 26 apartment fire at 321 W. Fort Wayne St., Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said, “I’m just going to say, our guys reacted with more precision and more professionalism, and their training showed through. They saved a gentleman’s life in a very quick, short order. I know there’s a lot more to it. It’s a significant amount of teamwork demonstrated that night.”
He said he had the chance to watch the video and talk with the men.
“Thankfully, they don’t get to do that very often. But that training that we sometimes maybe take for granted, or even question at times the amount of training that is done, what I’ve learned is that it really provides that muscle memory that when they get called on a situation and time is of the essence – and it was this time – that training kicks in. And it made a life-saving difference. And our guys went into a situation and weren’t sure what they were getting into. Fire was extremely advanced and (they) weren’t sure how many people there were or where, if there were people. They were, again, not certain what was going on, but they went in. They didn’t hesitate. They went in and pulled a gentleman out,” Thallemer said.
He said it was a “heroic” thing, but if you talk to the firefighters, they would just tell you it was a part of their training.
“Again, thankfully, we don’t get the opportunity to do that, but when it happens, our guys are ready. And I’m very proud of that,” Thallemer said.
According to a July 27 news release from the Warsaw Police Department on behalf of the WWFT, Steven D. Mawer, who resided in the second-floor apartment, was injured in the fire and flown to the burn center at Lutheran Hospital.
After giving the report on the monthly fire activity, WWFT Assistant Chief Aaron Bolinger told Thallemer, “Thank you for the words. The training that your firefighters do can not say enough. We had that same type of fire about 15 years ago and it didn’t resolve in the same way. For a small department, the abilities that it has rivals a lot bigger agencies. The dedication your people have.”
Later in the meeting, Fire Chief Mike Wilson presented the proposed 2022 budgets for his department, all of which the WWFT board unanimously recommended that the Common Council approve. The budgets will go before the Council Aug. 16.
The first budget was for the operating fund. Wilson pointed out that it includes four new hires. One is a firefighter replacement on B shift due to the promotion of Bolinger and an additional firefighter per shift “that helps cover the CARES program and puts that third person on a ladder truck.” The funding for the additional personnel also is assisted by the American Rescue Plan grant program.
On the ARP funding, Thallemer said the Common Council is considering the overall budget, which includes the budget for the ARP funds. “This utilization of funds is subject to their approval, and that would even probably go beyond just a mere allocation of it. Getting into the details of the program. It’s not guaranteed, it’s set aside, but I wanted to make sure you understand that’s under the Council’s privy,” he said.
The total proposed 2022 budget for the operating budget is $5,521,806, an increase of 23.22% from 2021’s $4,481,259.
WWFT board member Brandon Schmitt said, “I would love to see those additional firefighters kept. B shift is running short, has been running short for how long? Two years? And then those additional firefighters, putting those guys on trucks. Talking about the rescue the guys had two weeks ago – just an incredible, incredible job by those guys in a very high-stress situation. People in the front yard yelling. There’s kids up there in the second story. And we had a fire officer who had to make the choice to enter that second story, with the first story completely engulfed in flames, by himself, because there were people yelling there were kids in the second story.”
Technically, Schmitt said, the firefighter shouldn’t have done that, but “do we tell that family we’re short on people so we’re going to have to wait to go up and get your kids? He wasn’t willing to do that, so he risked A LOT. So, I fully support that and I think we’ve got to get those people on those trucks so we don’t have to have firefighters face that situation again. They did an incredible job, and that fire officer told me that his training took over. It goes back to that training. He said, ‘You know, when I was in there, it was very intense,’ he said, ‘But all the years and hours of training took over, and we got the job done.’”
If anything gets cut by the Council in the budget, Schmitt said he hoped it wasn’t personnel.
The next budget Wilson presented was the Fire Territory Equipment Replacement Fund. It decreased from $1,142,600 in 2021 to $462,600 proposed in 2022, or minus 59.51%.
The fire pension fund is proposed at $272,422, while the Hazardous Materials Response Fund is proposed at just $3,800.
In other business, the board approved:
• A grant agreement with the Kosciusko 21st Century Foundation for $30,000 to cover replacement costs for Autopulse units, batteries and chargers for fire departments in the county.
• A medical office space lease with Kosciusko Ambulance Service LLC for the Service to use two bedrooms and ambulance parking space at WWFT Fire Station 3. The lease is for three years at monthly rental installments of $750.
