St. Joseph County Fire Territory to roll out in new year

 

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- The newly formed St. Joseph County Fire Territory will officially be rolled out at the beginning of the new year.

The territory will cover Warren Township and unincorporated parts of Portage Township; effectively dissolving the Southwest Central Fire Territory and splitting it into the St. Joseph County and Centre Township Fire Departments.

"The residents, our customers, should never see a change of anything, as far as service goes," says Fire Chief of Centre Township Fire Department, Chief Darrell Eiler.

The most a resident will notice is maybe a new face with a new uniform responding to their call, says Chief Eiler, who is making his own transition from Chief of Southwest Central to Chief of Centre Township

"Right now, we're in the process of re-lettering our equipment from Southwest Central to Centre Township," explains Chief Eiler. "Of course, new uniforms, new t-shirts, that kind of stuff."

Centre Township will stand alongside the new St. Joseph County Fire Territory in providing service to some of the county's southern and western townships.

The county fire territory will be making its debut in the new year fully staffed under its own new fire chief.

"We've got all our new hires in place, we've got our new administrators in place, we've been kicking the tires on this for a long time so we're ready to go," says Jason Critchlow, Portage Township Trustee.

The firefighters themselves will be earning competitive wages of $75,000 a year.

Critchlow explains that pay was a main motive for the creation of the new territory.

"We are on the cutting edge of what is required, what residents come to expect from fire departments these days," Critchlow says. "They want highly trained, highly qualified individuals in the fire service and from my standpoint, you have to be willing to pay."

Critchlow says the initial merge between Warren and Portage fire territories to create this new territory is hopefully just the beginning of future consolidation in the county.

"The bigger territory you are, the more efficient you are, with better benefits, and in my opinion, the better service you can provide," says Critchlow.

The equipment from both Centre and Portage Township Fire Departments was split fairly according to assessed value contributed to Southwest Central.

The official transition will take place in the morning on Dec. 29.