Gordon Nash was sworn in by Mayor Joe Thallemer as a member of the WWTFPT advisory board. (Photo by Jarrett Van Meter)

Tuesday afternoon’s Warsaw-Wayne Township Fire Protection Territory advisory board meeting saw Gordon Nash sworn in as a member of the board. “We are glad to have you, it is going to be a busy year,” stated Mayor Joe Thallemer to Nash. Nash was absent during the January meeting and thus was not sworn in with the other board members who are beginning a new term.

After the approval of the January meeting minutes WWTF Chief Mike Brubaker gave a report on the department’s month of December. Brubaker reported 122 total responses, with 102 within Warsaw city limits, 18 in Wayne Township and two outside of the area.

Brubaker then went on to give a summary of the year 2014 as a whole. He explained that there were a total of 1,391 runs during the year, which was down from the 1,444 runs in 2013. He also explained that the department was a part of five different CPR saves during the year.

Brubaker expressed his pleasure with the number of CPR saves, while detailing the importance of continued attention to the area, “There are ten people in Kosciukso County right now who are alive due to CPR saves.”

Brubaker revealed to the board that WWTF Inspector Joe Fretz had received his international code council certification, after which he expressed his pleasure with the department’s internship program, “The intern program we have done this year has been very very positive. It has been nothing but good.”

Brubaker also stated that this year’s intern, Warsaw Community High School senior Josh Cardin, had been a joy to work with and added, “If you came into the department today and didn’t know anything about the staff, you would think he was on the staff.”

Brubaker announced that he had been approached by the state of Indiana to host a class in Warsaw that would demonstrate why fire departments use the tactics that they do and why they work. He said the course would be free and that he only needed to find a venue but had worked out a reasonable price for which to rent the auditorium of Lakeview Middle School. The board unanimously authorized Brubaker to pursue the opportunity to bring the one-day course to Warsaw in May.