Like so many things these days, it’s getting ever more expensive to run a fire department.
Portage and Warren townships have formed a fire territory to share costs.
Both township boards voted unanimously Thursday night to form the St. Joseph County Fire Territory. They initially envisioned Centre and Union townships also joining but those two have declined for now.
Portage Township Trustee Jason Critchlow says it’s become much harder for small departments to afford competitive pay, the price of modern firetrucks, and the cost and complexity of providing ambulance service.
The townships’ consultant said it will increase property taxes by $100 a year per $100,000 of assessed value, but only for the 20% of properties that aren’t already at their tax caps.
The new territory will start next year, replacing the Southwest Central Fire Territory. That’s now comprised of Portage and Centre.
Fire departments can only vote to merge from January through March of the prior year. Next year for 2026 Critchlow says they’ll invite Olive Township, which already has expressed interest.
And Critchlow says they’ll invite Centre township every year until they join.
"You know the big thing is ambulance service," Critchlow said. "Right now a lot of county residents don't realize that the nearest ambulance might be a 10- or 15-minute drive away. If we get other entities to join the territory, I can make an ambulance's response time two minutes."
