Moran Township Gives Stipends To Balance West End Fire Service
By Paul Gingras

To ensure adequate fire and ambulance coverage in northern and western portions of Moran Township, the Moran Township Board of Trustees voted to provide stipends of $5,000 to Hendricks Township and $3,000 to Brevort Township to help the neighboring fire and ambulance services weather difficult financial times.

Hendricks and Brevort townships provide back-up emergency services in and around the Ozark area and Brevort Village. Both lie inside Moran Township. Providing a stipend to Hendricks resurrects an agreement between Moran and Hendricks townships, which ceased in 1998.

If approved by Moran Township's attorney, the agreements will be valid until June 2008, at which time the municipalities will review, and possibly renew them.

Agreements with Brevort and Hendricks townships will go into effect when Moran Township's attorney reviews the plans and determines how the stipends can be spent. That should happen this week, said Moran Township Trustee Mark Spencer.

The decision to provide stipends was made at a Moran Township meeting Wednesday, June 6, at Ozark Standard School on M-123. Residents, board members, and firefighters from Hendricks Township attended and provided a detailed history of former financial agreements between Moran and Hendricks townships, and explained the current financial situation in Hendricks.

The plans will help balance emergency services in northern and western parts of Moran Township with those on the eastern end, Mr. Spencer said. Fire protection in eastern Moran Township has been augmented by a fire hydrant system on US-2. Water tankers owned by Brevort and Hendricks townships, which Mr. Spencer likened to "rolling fire hydrants," are used in western and northern areas.

The St. Ignace Fire Department and city-based Allied EMS Systems, Inc. are the first to be called for emergencies in Moran Township, which does not own its own fire or ambulance departments. Eventually, Moran Township would like to have Hendricks and Brevort township departments serve as first responders around the Ozark area and Brevort Village.

To determine if this long-range plan can be achieved, the board will seek input from Bryce Tracy, 9-1-1 coordinator for Mackinac County.

Moran Township pays approximately $31,000 to the City of St. Ignace for fire service and allots up to $20,000 to Allied EMS for ambulance service, each year. If Hendricks and Brevort townships become first responders in Ozark and Brevort Village areas, the township hopes to reduce payments for city-based services, said Moran Township Clerk Kris Vallier.

Residents on the northern and western ends of Moran Township have expressed concern about fire and ambulance coverage, following failed millage proposals for new equipment in Brevort and Hendricks townships this spring, Mr. Spencer said.

Although township fire and ambulance departments are smaller and have less equipment than city services, Brevort and Hendricks emergency responders can reach parts of Moran Township more quickly than those in St. Ignace can, and their fire department members know the best places to resupply water tankers, Mr. Spencer explained.

This was illustrated about a month ago at a three-acre grass fire on Schoolhouse Road in Moran Township. The Department of Natural Resources, Hendricks Township Fire Department, St. Ignace Fire Department, and the Forest Service collaborated to fight the blaze.

Hendricks responders knew where to find the best inland water sources to resupply tanker trucks. Firefighters from other areas would have traveled to Lake Michigan to resupply, Mr. Spencer said.

Even if Hendricks and Brevort township departments become first responders in parts of Moran Township, their range will be limited, said Richard Smith of Hendricks Township.

Citing the abilities of St. Ignace services, he said that Moran Township would not want township departments serving as first responders in areas St. Ignace can reach more quickly.

Hendricks Township responds to emergencies between the township border and Brevort River. Brevort Township travels as far west as Black Point Road, Mr. Spencer said.