Frankenmuth

Success of Your Success of Your Local Fire Department Local Fire Department By Phil Kerns By Phil Kerns Without community support, like family members, residents, businesses, elected officials, and non-profit service groups, local volunteer fire departments will surely wither away forcing local jurisdictions to: Hire paid firefighters, which will surely increase costs. Become part of a wider area cooperative venture with other adjoining municipalities, and most likely delay responses. Or, perhaps a community not having any fire services whatsoever, which may be possible, but unimaginable in modern times. The Frankenmuth Fire Department's (FFD) current public protection (insurance) rating of 4/4Y saves taxpayers thousands of dollars an- nually in insurance premium because of the investment made in our local firefighting apparatus, equipment and people. This rating would certainly plunge if we didn't have our own responding fire department. The Frankenmuth Community is blessed to have 32 trained volunteer firefighters who donate their abilities, skills, talents, and time to provide fire protection. FFD is not only funded by tax dollars, but also through cooperative efforts and donations/grants. As far as membership goes, we continue to be ahead of all area departments when it comes to staffing levels. Our average years of mem- bership is 15 and well above what would be considered the average for today's volunteer firefighter. Each year, our membership demographics remain impressive. A roster of approximately 28 active members is realistic for us and ideal for our make-up. Anything more than that is a luxury that we continue to enjoy, here in Frankenmuth, because of the support received. One other very critical component to this equation is that of the local employer's continued willingness to allow their volunteer firefighter to leave during the work day to respond to calls. If this cooperation degrades as it has elsewhere, there will be very serious implications to our ability to effectively respond to daytime calls. Also, because a majority of our volunteers work during the day, such response to calls will see some degree of delay because of a decreased state of readiness. So, in addition to the Community funding operations and the Frankenmuth City Township Commission for their oversight, we wish to thank the following local employers for supporting their volunteer employees while responding to calls during the work day: Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, City of Frankenmuth, Frankenmuth Credit Union, Frankenmuth Insurance, Kremin, Inc., Maurer Builders, Mike Young Buick GMC, Star of the West Milling Company, Weiss Equipment, and Wellspring We also hope that you support them in your business choices. In return, FFD makes every attempt to get our working firefighters back to their jobs as quickly as possible while they are on someone else's clock - because we get it! The attached banner was designed by Rummel Studios. Because of the ever important support of community and family and as a safety reminder to our firefighters, this banner that "Everyone Goes Home", hangs outside FFD's gear room as a reminder that life is precious and that we want to stay focused and committed as we are called upon to do our firefighting duty. So, "we'll be mindful to be careful out there…". Help us, by doing your part too! 50

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