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Charlevoix Twp. Fire Lacking Space Following Merger, Asks Board to Take Steps Towards Building New Station

          After merging departments with the city, Charlevoix Township Fire Dept. says their stations are lacking critical space.

The fire department is now asking the township board to work towards building a new station. The board says they want to, but don’t have the necessary funding, at least not in this fiscal year.

9&10’s Aaron Parseghian has more details on the effort to get firefighters the space they need to work.

“We got 43 guys on our roster now, and all of our stations are completely full,” says Fire Chief Dan Thorp.

Charlevoix Township Fire Department is asking the township board to build a new station.

“It’s been a discussion even before the merger. It’s been in discussion for a while, last 5 to 6 years,” explained Thorp.

The fire department wants to get the ball rolling. The township says they’re committed to the project, but lack funding to make it happen.

“There’s no one on our board, that doesn’t want to build the fire station, but we have to be fiscally responsible, and the sop of the board, has always been we save the money we do the project when we have the money in the bank,” said Township Supervisor Chuck Center.

Fire Chief Thorp says a new station is essential for firefighters to do their jobs properly.

“More room for the guys, more rooms for the trucks, be able to move trucks around. Use the bathroom facilities, the showers, sleeping quarter," said Thorp.

At Charlevoix Township’s South Side Fire Station, you can see how cramped things really are, there’s only a couple inches of space, between these two trucks, which makes caring for them very difficult.

“When you’re trying to wash the vehicles coming back from a call there’s no drains in the stations,” added Thorp

The township board wants definite plans from the department before they go forward in finding a way to come up with the funding

“We’d have to ask for more money, we have to ask for another mill or two but were still waiting for plans to see what kind of building they want,” added Center.

Thorp says he and the department are working with builders to finalize their plans. 

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