Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
A ceremony for the recent promotion of two Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory firefighters took place near the start of the WWFT Board meeting Tuesday evening.
Max Kinsey was promoted to division chief of training, with Lucas Ellsworth promoted to lieutenant. Both were given their oaths of office by Fire Chief Joel Shilling. Their wives, Mary and Jessica, respectively, along with their families, pinned Max’s and Lucas’ badges onto their uniforms.
After photos, the Fire Territory Board got down to business.
Shilling gave his monthly fire report for April, saying the call volume was “down significantly.” They had 232 calls in April, with 57 (24.57%) of those overlapping. That number included nine fire-type calls, 16 hazardous situations, 28 non-emergency, 24 public service, no rescue and 155 medical. By station, station 17 had 109 runs; station 13, 87; and station 15, 36.
“As well as all the runs, we also had 674 hours of training in a wide variety of topics. This was also when we had some of our new hires so they did their two-week academy,” Shilling said.
They also dedicated 46.75 hours to community service, with a lot of station tours. “Again, continuing our Learn Not To Burn program, in partnership with Warsaw Community Schools. And then we also did help out with an egg drop for some homeschool group of students for a science experiment,” he said.
Under new business, Shilling requested permission to enter into a three-year agreement with Brycer L.P. and Brycer Advisory Group L.P. to implement The Compliance Engine within the WWFT jurisdiction.
“What this is, is annually businesses have to have their sprinkler system, their alarm system and ... the extinguishers, but there’s a lot of different things in the fire code that requires them to have their systems checked annually. This is just a compliance engine, or tool to make our fire marshal more efficient. So, currently, he goes out and he inspects these businesses and asks for these reports. This is just a way to leverage the technology to make him more efficient and have that to where he can review those ahead of time before he goes out and does the inspections,” Shilling explained.
Another benefit to the service is that they will send out reminders to the community members and businesses that their inspection is due.
“If they do have a deficiency in their system, in the inspection testing or maintenance, the contractor that the business has chose to do their work, if they have a deficiency or something that needs fixed, they review that and then send them a letter on our behalf as well,” he continued.
Mayor Jeff Grose thanked Shilling for his efforts on the contract. Information to the mayor and board states the program will be implemented at zero cost to the fire territory or local property owners.
Councilman Mike Klondaris said it was more complicated than what Shilling made it sound, but “I think it’s going to be a real movement for the department. It’s going to take a lot of pressure off the fire marshall, who sounds like he’s running pretty lean as it is.” He said some time has been put into studying the agreement.
The WWFT Board approved 4-0 recommending to the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety that the contract be approved. The Board of Works will hear the contract at their meeting Friday morning.
Shilling then presented a request on behalf of the Warsaw Dive Team to host a series of Dive Rescue International training courses this summer. The dive team includes members of the WWFT and Warsaw Police Department.
“We’ve done this several years in the past. Again, as we have new members join the dive team, again, we want to make sure with the City of Lakes and all the lakes in our area that we are training our members to the highest ability,” he said.
Dive Rescue International has been great to work with in the past, Shilling stated, and this summer they want to offer three classes: Med Dive, Aug. 24-25; Humminbird Sonar Technician, Aug. 26-27; and Boat Based Operations, Aug. 28-30.
The training courses were approved by the WWFT Board 4-0.
The last thing Shilling presented were four travel requests, two to Goshen for Inspector 2 classes and two in Warsaw for Incident Command System (ICS) 300 and ICS 400 courses. They were approved.
The next meeting of the WWFT Board will be at 4 p.m. July 7 at the WPD Training Center.
Grose said city meetings will continue to meet at the WPD Training Center through August, with Core Mechanical expecting to be completed with the HVAC work in City Hall by September.
After six weeks in the council chambers, the clerk-treasurer’s office, as well as wastewater collections, has moved back to their regular offices.
The Warsaw Building & Planning Department are moving down to the council chambers and Grose said they will be down there for almost two months.
The mayor’s office will have representation on the first floor of City Hall, but Grose and his staff, along with the entire human resources department, will be on the second floor of the Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department building at 123 E. Fort Wayne St. for a couple months.
