Fairfield Twp., MI – Over half of the Fairfield Township Fire Department resigned in February, and their official resignation letters were read out loud by Twp. Supervisor Chris McCallister at their most recent Board meeting… which drew a crowd of around 40 residents.
The resignation letters mainly addressed safety concerns with the equipment within the department… that they say the Board did not address. Board members at the most recent meeting said that they did not have the information on the status of the vehicles to make the needed purchases/repairs at the time of the resignations.
With the assistance of Madison Township Fire Chief Ryan Rank, McCallister said that he was able to obtain reports made by a fire truck repair company dating back to November 2020. He then read through summaries of each report for each Engine in the department. One engine needs over $17,000, another needs over $27,000, and a third engine needs $2,000 in repairs. These numbers were estimates, and the board members talked about looking at ways to alleviate some of the costs.
The Fairfield Township Board voted to authorize the $2,000 in repairs to the one engine. They did not vote on the other two, hoping to get more specifics on costs.
The community’s ambulance was a topic of discussion, as it was brought up during the meeting that it had licensing issues. McCallister said he was working with the State of Michigan to properly license the ambulance.
With one of the firefighters resigning being the Chief, the department was left without someone to fill that leadership role. Madison Township Fire Department, since February, has been assisting Fairfield with various duties. It was proposed to the Board that MTFD enters into an inter-local agreement with FTFD while they look for anew chief and the help rebuild the department, as there are certain things that only a chief can perform, per state law.
The agreement, which was approved unanimously by the Fairfield Township Board… and later approved by the Madison Township Board… will cost $1,250 per month. Fairfield’s board said that dollar amount is roughly the same as they were paying the former Chief per month.
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