Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory will apply for two separate grants - one for fitness equipment and the other for 50% of Work-Based Learning student wages.
In presenting the request to the WWFT Board for permission for Lt. Tyler Colt to apply for a grant from the K21 Health Foundation for fitness equipment, Chief Joel Shilling reminded the board that last year Colt went after a grant from the Kosciusko County Community Foundation for treadmills for the three fire stations, which was awarded.
“He would like to proceed with some more equipment through the K21 Health Foundation. So this is just requesting your permission to apply for the grant through K21,” Shilling said.
The proposed grant, titled “Fit for Duty: Comprehensive Strength and Functional Fitness Equipment for Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory,” seeks $43,664.20 to replace outdated strength and fitness equipment across all three fire stations. The commercial-grade equipment would come from Rogue Fitness.
Shilling said if they are awarded the grant, they would come back to the board to seek permission to accept the grant.
Mayor Jeff Grose said he appreciated Colt’s efforts and made note of how much weight Colt has lost.
“When I first got hired 10 years ago, it was very rare for people to work out, and I would say now we have about every shift, and almost member, works out for at least an hour or two every shift, so this equipment is really getting utilized. I think they’re finding that ... we have some equipment that could be replaced and this is why you see him going after those grants,” Shilling said.
Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in firemen, he pointed out.
“I’m thankful for Lt. Colt for stepping up and doing this for the department,” Shilling stated.
The board approved the grant application.
Shilling then presented a request for the WWFT to apply for the Warsaw Work and Learn Grant.
“This is a grant that I was made aware of,” he said. “So, currently, we have a partnership with the Warsaw Area Career Center at the high school for Work-Based Learning. And, so, we have two students currently that came out of our fire class at the high school. But then their senior year they come and co-op and work half a day doing some Work-Based Learning. Half a day at the fire department and then half a day at school.”
From that, he said, along with the high school program, “it brings us some good recruits. It gets us to know them, and, hopefully, potential to grab onto them after they graduate. It’s kind of the end goal.”
The school system made Shilling aware of a grant that pays for 50% of the wages of the Work-Based Learning students.
“So this is just permission to apply for the grant to recoup some of our costs with that. Again, it’s just 50% of their wages. I believe the interns are $10 an hour, and every year we go for two of them,” Shilling said. “I value this program as the chief. I think the students get a great opportunity to engage with us and work for us. And this is just a way to keep that program sustainable, especially with the upcoming unknowns with the budget.”
The board approved the request.
Earlier in the meeting, Shilling presented his monthly reports for February and March.
In February, the fire territory had a total of 233 responses, and of those, 55 (23.6%) were overlapping.
“We had a total of seven fire calls, 10 hazardous situations, 25 non-emergency, 29 public service, one rescue and 161 medical (calls),” Shilling said.
Station 17, downtown Warsaw, had 109 of those calls; station 13, on Center Street, had 100; and station 15, on CR 200S, had 24.
The fire territory had 563 training hours in February and dedicated 9.5 hours to community service.
Numbers for March were comparatively higher.
“It’s kind of interesting to compare month by month right beside. Normally, we don’t do that, but there was a huge uptick in calls in the month of March, from February to March,” Shilling said.
WWFT had 309 calls in March, with 110 (35.6%) of those overlapping responses.
Of those 309 calls, 11 were fire calls, 17 were hazardous situations, 44 non-emergency, 40 public service, four rescue calls and 193 were medical calls.
Station 17’s district had 162 of those calls, station 13 had 110 and station 15 had 37.
In March, they had 657.75 training hours and 48.25 community service hours.
Councilman Mike Klondaris said, “I compared February and March calls. You were busier in March in every category - fire calls, hazards, non-emergency, public, rescue, as well as medical - across the board.”
Shilling agreed, saying, “We just keep getting busier and busier. The guys do a great job handling the multiple calls. Again, 35% overlap - I don’t have them all in front of me, but again - two calls, there could be an overlapping call, say it’s a medical call and then an overlapping fire alarm, that depletes all the resources we have in the city and then we have to depend on mutual aid. But some of those could be dual fire calls as well, so we’re now cutting resources. But the guys do a great job. That’s kind of the role of the battalion chief: If the resources are needed, he cuts them loose. They do a great job, the guys, along with Assistant Chief (William) Kornrumph, running the day-to-day operations. They do a good job of returning to service as soon as they can. Doing their job, but then getting back ready to take the next call, which I greatly appreciate.”
Klondaris stated, “I wish we could do something about that.”
The next meeting of the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory will be at 4 p.m. June 2 at the Warsaw Police Department Training Center.
