County Firemen Show Appreciation For Donors, Recognize Life Savers
May 21, 2021 at 11:03 p.m.
County Firemen Show Appreciation For Donors, Recognize Life Savers
By David [email protected]
Tools and equipment help them do their jobs, and Thursday night, the Kosciusko County Firemen’s Association recognized the donors who helped provide equipment that will save people’s lives and property – three Ramsfan VX PowerStream ventilation fans and Autopulse devices for each fire department in Kosciusko County.
The ventilation fans were equipment that Winona Lake Fire Chief Mitch Titus wanted for the fire departments in the county. Unexpectedly, Titus died May 3, 2019, from injuries suffered in a workplace accident before he could see his plan come to fruition. His firefighter brethren didn’t let the plan die and in June 2020, the first ventilation fan was unveiled, named Titus 1. After that one was unveiled, people stepped up to help support the purchase of the other two. At Thursday’s KCFA meeting, all three fans were on display at the North Webster-Tippecanoe Township Volunteer Fire Department.
On each fan is a list of donors who made the approximate $20,000 (each) fans possible. Titus 3 lists G & G Hauling & Excavating employees as the donors. Titus’ full-time job was at G & G. Richard Groninger, representing G & G, attended Thursday’s KCFA meeting. Donors for Titus 1 are listed as Mike and Rita Lewis family, Winona Lake Fire Department, Silver Lake Fire Department, Grace College, Kerlin Bus Sales & Leasing, Paragon Medical and Complete Fleet. Titus 2 donors are listed as “anonymous donations from Turkey Creek resident.”
After the donors were recognized, Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Chief Mike Wilson and WLFD Chief Kevin Gelbaugh explained the backstory of the ventilation fans and how they came to Kosciusko County because of Titus.
“We had a situation out at Zimmer in plant 5. Pretty good-sized fire. Smoked up the whole building. The only way to get the smoke out of the building was we ended up having to call Syracuse to bring their air boat,” Wilson explained. “Mitch was like, ‘This is not right.’ So he worked a couple years on trying to figure out how to be able to buy one. And then it was like, ‘If we buy one, what are we going to do about the north and south?’”
Wilson met with Titus and a large community member at Zimmer. A program was laid out to buy three of the fans. Collection of funds had already started and there was some money in savings for it.
“We realized that there were other people in the community that wanted to help,” he said. “This was Mitch’s dream, and Winona Lake Fire Department’s dream, to get this process going so there were three fans for large commercial buildings, schools, factories, apartment buildings like Retired Tigers. The only way to move that smoke out is to have the power of these fans.”
One fan is in Syracuse, one in Warsaw and the third is in Silver Lake. Earlier this week, a fan was used at a factory in Nappanee.
“One of guys told me that the employees at this factory said this is cleaner than what it’s been before. So there’s a lot of power behind them,” Wilson said.
Gelbaugh said, “So the ones we carry on our trucks are 18,000 (cubic feet per meter square). And the ones out there on the trailers are 60,000 CFMS.”
As part of their training, firefighters are trained on the ventilation fans, he said. The fans also have a mister on them so it can also be used as a cooling station.
Gelbaugh said a fan has been in Nappanee twice and one was used at the former Madison Elementary School in Warsaw before it was torn down for a housing development.
Wilson said they determine “pretty quick” if they need a fan when they get to the scene of a fire.
“If you’ve got a large structure that’s got smoke in it, there are protocols that once the fire is out, you go into the mode of removing smoke out of it. Once it’s under control, they’re asked for if they’re not asked for before,” Wilson said.
Gelbaugh agreed that seeing Titus’ dream realized was bittersweet. Wilson said Titus saw the fans at the Fire Department Instructors Conference in Indianapolis. One was brought in to Winona Lake from Iowa and a demonstration was given. A building at Grace College was filled with fake smoke for the demonstration.
Gelbaugh said the fans aren’t common in Indiana. They’re specifically built and an order has to be placed for them.
Groninger said the employees of G & G wanted to contribute to the fans “because they knew it was one of (Titus’) dreams.”
After the donors for the fans were recognized Thursday, the KCFA recognized the K21 Health Foundation for providing a grant to provide Autopulse devices to the fire departments in the county. First responders from Mentone, Atwood, Nappanee and Syracuse who used the devices to save lives also were presented certificates for their actions.
Chris Fancil, WWFT EMS chief, said, “We were able to apply for that through K21. They were gracious enough to give us the money to buy those. We got those out in the community. I will say this … There’s another county that, based on what we’ve been able to do, is looking to do the same thing.”
He said the proudest he is of the whole county is not just the Autopulse devices and their use. “It’s the fact that we had departments that didn’t run med runs, that now will come out and help on med runs. It’s extra hands, it’s extra people, it’s extra resources. I think you all should be proud of yourselves for doing that. That’s the important thing for wanting to help the county in another way.”
Fancil said he couldn’t thank K21 enough. “They’ve been nothing but supportive of this whole thing and they help the county in so many ways,” he said.
After the meeting, Fancil said they recognized the departments in the county that used the Autopulse to save lives. “So those groups that we had up there were departments that actually had a cardiac arrest save using the new technology of the Autopulse. It actually is an entire new way of working a cardiac arrest.”
He said the responders from Nappanee, Syracuse, Atwood and Mentone “all used these devices to save people’s lives that perhaps they couldn’t have before. It allows us to do continuous compressions without that fatigue factor when we may only have a couple of responders to start with. After one minute of doing CPR manually, you start to lose the strength and lose the ‘go’ because it’s hard. It is strenuous.”
The Autopulse device never gets tired, never complains and never needs to switch out. “It’ll run for about 45 minutes on one battery and each of these devices came with three batteries, thanks to K21 for paying for that package.”
He said the devices has allowed them to have less volunteers and get better quality outcomes.
“So we wanted to celebrate that. We wanted to thank K21 for buying them for us, and we wanted to celebrate these departments for their dedication and training because it is a continuous process. And celebrate the fact it’s used to save lives. That’s the goal we all set out to do, is to touch a life in a good way or to save a life, and they’ve managed to do it, so we’re trying to celebrate that,” Fancil said.
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Tools and equipment help them do their jobs, and Thursday night, the Kosciusko County Firemen’s Association recognized the donors who helped provide equipment that will save people’s lives and property – three Ramsfan VX PowerStream ventilation fans and Autopulse devices for each fire department in Kosciusko County.
The ventilation fans were equipment that Winona Lake Fire Chief Mitch Titus wanted for the fire departments in the county. Unexpectedly, Titus died May 3, 2019, from injuries suffered in a workplace accident before he could see his plan come to fruition. His firefighter brethren didn’t let the plan die and in June 2020, the first ventilation fan was unveiled, named Titus 1. After that one was unveiled, people stepped up to help support the purchase of the other two. At Thursday’s KCFA meeting, all three fans were on display at the North Webster-Tippecanoe Township Volunteer Fire Department.
On each fan is a list of donors who made the approximate $20,000 (each) fans possible. Titus 3 lists G & G Hauling & Excavating employees as the donors. Titus’ full-time job was at G & G. Richard Groninger, representing G & G, attended Thursday’s KCFA meeting. Donors for Titus 1 are listed as Mike and Rita Lewis family, Winona Lake Fire Department, Silver Lake Fire Department, Grace College, Kerlin Bus Sales & Leasing, Paragon Medical and Complete Fleet. Titus 2 donors are listed as “anonymous donations from Turkey Creek resident.”
After the donors were recognized, Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Chief Mike Wilson and WLFD Chief Kevin Gelbaugh explained the backstory of the ventilation fans and how they came to Kosciusko County because of Titus.
“We had a situation out at Zimmer in plant 5. Pretty good-sized fire. Smoked up the whole building. The only way to get the smoke out of the building was we ended up having to call Syracuse to bring their air boat,” Wilson explained. “Mitch was like, ‘This is not right.’ So he worked a couple years on trying to figure out how to be able to buy one. And then it was like, ‘If we buy one, what are we going to do about the north and south?’”
Wilson met with Titus and a large community member at Zimmer. A program was laid out to buy three of the fans. Collection of funds had already started and there was some money in savings for it.
“We realized that there were other people in the community that wanted to help,” he said. “This was Mitch’s dream, and Winona Lake Fire Department’s dream, to get this process going so there were three fans for large commercial buildings, schools, factories, apartment buildings like Retired Tigers. The only way to move that smoke out is to have the power of these fans.”
One fan is in Syracuse, one in Warsaw and the third is in Silver Lake. Earlier this week, a fan was used at a factory in Nappanee.
“One of guys told me that the employees at this factory said this is cleaner than what it’s been before. So there’s a lot of power behind them,” Wilson said.
Gelbaugh said, “So the ones we carry on our trucks are 18,000 (cubic feet per meter square). And the ones out there on the trailers are 60,000 CFMS.”
As part of their training, firefighters are trained on the ventilation fans, he said. The fans also have a mister on them so it can also be used as a cooling station.
Gelbaugh said a fan has been in Nappanee twice and one was used at the former Madison Elementary School in Warsaw before it was torn down for a housing development.
Wilson said they determine “pretty quick” if they need a fan when they get to the scene of a fire.
“If you’ve got a large structure that’s got smoke in it, there are protocols that once the fire is out, you go into the mode of removing smoke out of it. Once it’s under control, they’re asked for if they’re not asked for before,” Wilson said.
Gelbaugh agreed that seeing Titus’ dream realized was bittersweet. Wilson said Titus saw the fans at the Fire Department Instructors Conference in Indianapolis. One was brought in to Winona Lake from Iowa and a demonstration was given. A building at Grace College was filled with fake smoke for the demonstration.
Gelbaugh said the fans aren’t common in Indiana. They’re specifically built and an order has to be placed for them.
Groninger said the employees of G & G wanted to contribute to the fans “because they knew it was one of (Titus’) dreams.”
After the donors for the fans were recognized Thursday, the KCFA recognized the K21 Health Foundation for providing a grant to provide Autopulse devices to the fire departments in the county. First responders from Mentone, Atwood, Nappanee and Syracuse who used the devices to save lives also were presented certificates for their actions.
Chris Fancil, WWFT EMS chief, said, “We were able to apply for that through K21. They were gracious enough to give us the money to buy those. We got those out in the community. I will say this … There’s another county that, based on what we’ve been able to do, is looking to do the same thing.”
He said the proudest he is of the whole county is not just the Autopulse devices and their use. “It’s the fact that we had departments that didn’t run med runs, that now will come out and help on med runs. It’s extra hands, it’s extra people, it’s extra resources. I think you all should be proud of yourselves for doing that. That’s the important thing for wanting to help the county in another way.”
Fancil said he couldn’t thank K21 enough. “They’ve been nothing but supportive of this whole thing and they help the county in so many ways,” he said.
After the meeting, Fancil said they recognized the departments in the county that used the Autopulse to save lives. “So those groups that we had up there were departments that actually had a cardiac arrest save using the new technology of the Autopulse. It actually is an entire new way of working a cardiac arrest.”
He said the responders from Nappanee, Syracuse, Atwood and Mentone “all used these devices to save people’s lives that perhaps they couldn’t have before. It allows us to do continuous compressions without that fatigue factor when we may only have a couple of responders to start with. After one minute of doing CPR manually, you start to lose the strength and lose the ‘go’ because it’s hard. It is strenuous.”
The Autopulse device never gets tired, never complains and never needs to switch out. “It’ll run for about 45 minutes on one battery and each of these devices came with three batteries, thanks to K21 for paying for that package.”
He said the devices has allowed them to have less volunteers and get better quality outcomes.
“So we wanted to celebrate that. We wanted to thank K21 for buying them for us, and we wanted to celebrate these departments for their dedication and training because it is a continuous process. And celebrate the fact it’s used to save lives. That’s the goal we all set out to do, is to touch a life in a good way or to save a life, and they’ve managed to do it, so we’re trying to celebrate that,” Fancil said.
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