Trash Burning, Tornado Sirens, Dive Rescue Training Discussed At WWFT Board Meeting
Trash Burning, Tornado Sirens, Dive Rescue Training Discussed At WWFT Board Meeting
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Trash Burning, Tornado Sirens, Dive Rescue Training Discussed At WWFT Board MeetingNo open burning is permitted in Warsaw’s city limits, but that hasn’t stopped some people from violating city ordinances.
In his monthly report, Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Chief Garrett Holderman told the WWFT Board that in February, the department had 273 calls. Of those calls, 58 were fire related, including a trash fire on Columbia Street.
“Nothing too crazy, just kind of melted some paint on some vehicles,” he said.
Mike Klondaris, Common Councilman and WWFT Board member, was curious about the trash fire. “You say it’s no big deal, but there’s a lot of houses down there. Are people supposed to be burning trash?”
Holderman said they’re not and that’s why the fire department went and put it out. Klondaris said he was concerned people were burning trash in town where houses are close by.
“It happens more often than you think,” Board member Brandon Schmitt, a former firefighter, said.
“We don’t get calls on a lot of them. The police, sheriff get calls on most of them, but when we do go, we’ll put it out,” Holderman said. “It gets pretty windy around here and there are a lot of houses on Columbia Street.”
Klondaris said he assumed the city has an ordinance on that, and Mayor Joe Thallemer said it certainly does.
“There’s no open burning in the city at all,” Schmitt stated.
A little later, Holderman provided an update to the tornado sirens.
“I know we had a little bit of difficulty” but we got them rolling Monday, Thallemer said.
Holderman said, “So, we’ve been working on them for the past couple weeks and we obviously want to get them (geared) up for tornado season, which we already are kind of peaking into, but we finally did get them fixed.”
He thanked Kosciusko County Central Dispatch and J & K Communications for their assistance.
“There was a problem on the J & K side with communicating with our D, T and F tones. It was just incorrectly inputted into their systems, but we finally got it figured out yesterday, as I’m sure you all heard the sirens go off a few times. So we’re back to being in business on those. We’re good,” Holderman said.
Thallemer said the sirens didn’t work, “so we decided it was getting to the point now where it was better to just test these things while the individual was there working on it, and it worked out, so we’re pleased.”
Holderman, who is from Arizona, said it was the first time he heard tornado sirens.
WWFT Lt. Drew Shilling requested to bring Dive Rescue International back to Warsaw later this summer for another class series. In summer 2021, WWFT hosted four Dive Rescue International classes.
“It went over really well. We had - besides our guys - divers come in from as far away as Massachusetts, New York, Tennessee. So, all the instructors were really pleased with what we had to offer here as far as hosting classes, so we decided to try it again this year, so that’s why I’m here to get your approval,” Shilling told the Board.
This year, he said they were looking at hosting three classes: Hummingbird Sonar Technician, Light Salvage and Recovery, and HazMat Diving.
Shilling said besides the registration fees to get WWFT guys in the classes, it won’t cost WWFT anything to bring Dive Rescue International to Warsaw. Dive Rescue International provides the instructors and takes care of their airfare and everything.
“So, it’s real good deal for us. It saves us money not having to send our guys out to different locations, and it brings people into the city,” he said.
Dive Rescue International provides all the instructors. In 2021, one instructor was the dive commander from Indianapolis and another was from Florida.
Thallemer asked if Warsaw was allowed a reduction in the fee by hosting the classes.
“Correct,” Shilling said. “For each class, if there’s 10 filled spots, we get five free spots. So it’s a pretty big savings.”
He said the local restaurants and hotels will benefit from the classes, too.
Schmitt asked who else from around the area expressed interest in the classes.
“We have quite a few of our guys looking to get in. There’s another local department that has expressed an interest in starting a dive team, so if they can get their guys through Dive Rescue I before then, they’ll put their guys in some of these,” Shilling answered.
There’s always spots available if the Warsaw Police Department or Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office are interested, he said.
The dates for the classes are Aug. 13-20. Most of the classes will take place at the Fireman’s Building, Pike Lake and Warsaw Community High School pool. Shilling said the high school was really good to work with and always accommodating.
Schmitt made a motion to approve for WWFT to host the Dive Rescue International classes and Board member Gordon Nash provided the second. It was approved 4-0.
