Fire Report

By Annette Christie

Sister Lakes Fire Department

  The Sister Lakes Fire Department responded to 14 calls in the month of December with a total average response time of eight minutes 15 seconds.  There was one structure fire on Cable Drive in Silver Creek Township.

Keeler Township Fire Department

  The Keeler Township Fire Department responded to four emergency medical service calls, and four fire calls in December.  They also assisted the Sister Lakes Fire Department on the Cable Drive fire call.  Their average response time was nine minutes.  Recently the training for four members of the department to attend officer school was approved.   The Keeler Township Board has also chosen to terminate one of the fire department members due to the lack of response to calls and training.   The department has received three applications and is currently working the preliminaries to hiring individuals.

Watervliet Fire Department

  The Watervliet Fire Department responded to 390 total calls for 2016. The average fire call response time was under five minutes and medical call response time was at four minutes from the time of dispatch to arrival.  The annual average en route to arrival is three minutes 30 seconds.

The calls were divided up as follows:  Watervliet City, 116; Watervliet Charter Township, 240; Bainbridge Township, 11; and mutual aid, 23.

In all, the department responded to 23 structure fires, five vehicle fires, and five grass fires.  Firefighters responded to 13 accidents that may have included extrications.

The medical first responder calls included 156 with Medic 1 and 87 for Pride Care.