Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Along with meeting the new assistant chief, the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory (WWFT) Board approved the sale of a fire engine to the Clay Township-Claypool Fire Department Tuesday.
William Kornrumph started his job as the WWFT assistant chief on Aug. 25, coming from the Elkhart Fire Department after 19-1/2 years there.
“I just love the small community, want to make a difference and just want to make things better,” he said in an interview before the meeting on why he wanted to join the WWFT.
At Elkhart, Kornrumph was the division chief of training for the past eight years. He also works for the state of Indiana as the coach/mentor for the driver-operator program. As the coach/mentor, he implements the curriculum, does skill training and is the contact person if there are any related problems.
He said he’s also real big into the MABAS (Mutual Aid Box Alarm System) 201 Technical Rescue Team. The team was started in 2001 and is comprised of 86 members from seven area fire departments: Clay Fire Territory, Mishawaka Fire Department, city of Niles (Mich.) Fire Department, Notre Dame Fire Department, Penn Township Fire Department, South Bend Fire Department and Warsaw Fire Department, according to their Facebook page.
In total, Kornrumph has 28 years in the fire service. Before Elkhart, he was a volunteer and then paid firefighter at Osolo Township. He first started as a volunteer at LaPaz, North Township, and Lakeville.
He currently lives in Mishawaka with his wife and three children.
As for his first week on the job at WWFT, Kornrumph said it’s been great.
“Great people. Wonderful community. It felt like home,” he said.
In introducing Kornrumph to the fire territory board Tuesday, Chief Joel Shilling said he was happy to have him around and he brings a lot of experience with him.
“Just very happy to have him on our team,” Shilling stated.
Councilman Mike Klondaris asked Kornrumph what his duties will be as the assistant chief.
“Whatever the fire chief tells me I need to do,” Kornrumph replied.
Mayor Jeff Grose said what impressed him about Kornrumph was his experience, leadership and diverse skill set. Shilling has been the chief for about 1-1/2 years and without an assistant chief until now, Grose pointed out.
“I can not imagine, and it just tells you how well we all know Chief Shilling has done, but I think this will be a great addition,” Grose said.
He told Kornrumph he was real excited for him at this point in his career.
“Me, too. I’m really excited,” Kornrumph agreed.
He will be given his oath of office at the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety meeting Friday.
Later in the meeting, the board approved granting Kornrumph the authority to sign claim vouchers in Shilling’s absence, which also must be approved by the Board of Public Works and Safety.
An item added to Tuesday’s meeting agenda was the sale of a fire engine.
Shilling explained, “With the addition of our new engine downtown, we now have a surplus of fire engines that we no longer need one. So, working with (fire territory attorney) Adam (Turner) on figuring out a way to dispose of this, we did find a potential buyer - Clay Township, or Claypool, Fire Department - to buy a 2008 Pierce Arrow XT Pumper for a total of $60,000.”
He said the Board of Works will still need to approve the sale.
Klondaris asked if the engine was in good working order, and Shilling said it was.
With Slate Auto coming in on Old 30 West, Klondaris asked if the truck could be potentially handy to keep.
“No. We still do have an extra one. So we still have a reserve engine. So right now we have three engines and then a reserve, so if one of them breaks and goes down, we have an extra one. And then we also do currently still have this one as well, so technically we have two,” Shilling said.
Most of the equipment has been stripped off the 2008 Pierce Arrow XT Pumper in preparation to get rid of it. With the fire territory’s capital improvement plan, Shilling said he didn’t foresee a reason to keep the engine as it doesn’t gain the fire department anything by keeping it.
Shilling said the fire territory also doesn’t have the manpower to staff the truck anyways, so there was no plus in keeping it.
Board member David Allbritten said the sale was good because it was bringing some dollars back to the fire territory.
“And we’re helping out a local fire department,” Shilling said, noting Claypool’s engine was significantly older than 2008.
Klondaris mentioned that with mutual aid, the engine might show up again to assist WWFT with a fire.
In other business, the WWFT Board approved a maintenance agreement with Cummins Sales and Service for annual generator equipment maintenance for both the fire territory and the Warsaw Police Department. The territory’s portion for three generators is $2,358.47, and the WPD’s portion for one generator is $755.01, totaling $3,113.48. This is a price increase of $406.11 for 2026. The Board of Works also must approve the agreement.
The next meeting of the WWFT Board is at 4 p.m. Oct. 7 in the city council chambers at City Hall.
