Lincoln Charter Township Fire Department looks to expand, lower response times

LINCOLN TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Right now, it takes the Lincoln Charter Township Fire Department nine to 11 minutes to respond to a call. If their crew was able to add more full-time members, they’d be able to cut response time in half.

At this time, the department only has one full-time firefighter. The rest is a group of 12 paid on-call firefighters who already work full-time jobs.

Their hope is to expand over the next few months. Phase one of that expansion is adding two additional full-time firefighters to the staff, a process that’s already paid for through the departments “Fire fund.”

The hiring of more firefighters down the line would require a millage increase of $18, but not for close to two years.

Fire Chief, Brandon Chiarello, says their call rate has also risen dramatically, going up 64% in just one year. He credits that change to the growing community over the past five to 10 years.