FORTVILLE — Vernon Township is getting a new fire station and will begin hiring firefighters for the first time to supplement its volunteer corps as the area tries to keep up with population growth.
Construction on the 14,000 square-foot facility on Vitality Drive in Fortville began last summer. Construction is expected to finish in May, and the station is expected to be operational in June, said Vernon Township Trustee Florence May.
The project will cost $4.25 million and is being funded by a bond that did not result in increasing tax rates, May said.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryTwo volunteer fire departments currently serve Vernon Township in the northwestern part of the county — one in Fortville and the other in McCordsville. The Fortville-Vernon Township Volunteer Fire Department, which currently operates out of the Fortville Municipal Building, will move into the new station when it’s finished. Seals Ambulance, the township’s ambulance provider, will operate out of the new station as well.
Vernon Township Public Safety Director Todd Jordan explained that the township contracts with the two departments and owns most of their equipment. McCordsville’s fire department owns its own building and will continue to operate out of it, he added.
May said the new station will be able to be operated 24 hours a day and will have sleeping quarters, something neither of the current fire stations in Vernon Township have.
Vernon Township intends to supplement its volunteer ranks with a staff of part-time firefighters at the new station, May said. She and Jordan said they continue to determine how many firefighters the township will hire, not only this year but in the coming years as well. This year’s hires will require working within a budget established during May’s predecessor’s administration. The township’s 2019 fire fund was published at almost $812,000.
Jordan said the ultimate goal is to staff the new department with three part-time firefighters a day Monday through Friday.
Vernon Township has about 30 volunteer firefighters between the stations in Fortville and McCordsville, Jordan said. He added the new station and its part-time staff will enhance fire protection throughout the township, especially during the day on weekdays when volunteers are less available.
Interest in serving as a volunteer firefighter is not matching the area’s rising population, May said.
“We’re in quite good shape but now the growth in the area is creating some real challenges,” May said.
Fortville processed 70 building permits in 2018, the highest in recent memory, according to Adam Zaklikowski, the town’s planning administrator.
An enrollment forecast presented to the Mt. Vernon School Board last month predicts the corporation’s enrollment of over 4,100 students will rise to more than 6,000 by the 2028-29 school year. Since the 2010-11 school year, enrollment has grown by about 500 students.
Jeff McCoy, chief of the Fortville-Vernon Township Volunteer Fire Department, said runs have been increasing along with the area’s population. When he joined the department in 1999, he said, firefighters were going on fewer than 300 runs a year. In 2018, they went on almost 700.
McCoy was among the firefighters and officials who toured the new station on Sunday. He liked what he saw.
“I’m ready to see it done and get moved in,” he said.
He said the facility will be especially beneficial when it comes to personnel, adding he expects it will be a draw for those who both want to volunteer and be a part-time firefighter. The station is also more visible to the public than the department’s current accommodations in the municipal building, he said.
The facility will have a four-door bay and will feature a living room, kitchen and recreational room. Four bathrooms with showers will be interspersed among the eight bedrooms. When calls come in, May said, beds will shake to awaken sleeping firefighters.
Like Fortville’s current fire station, the new one will be south of the train tracks traversing town. With much of Fortville’s growth being northward, May said, the potential need for a fire station north of the tracks is also on officials’ minds.
May expressed her gratitude toward the township’s volunteer firefighters, adding the amount of time they contribute is “more than should be expected of anybody.”
“We are indebted to them as a community,” she added.
Jordan, who also serves as a firefighter in Anderson, emphasized firefighting is an important duty regardless of whether one earns a paycheck for it or donates their time.
“When you walk into a fire… I don’t care who’s behind me,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if they’re volunteer or career.”
Fortville Town Manager Joe Renner said officials have yet to decide how the new space in the municipal building will be used after the fire department moves out. He’s confident a use will be found, he continued, adding space at the municipal building is “tight as it is.”
“It gives us a little more room to spread out,” he said.
The new station and decision to begin hiring firefighters will put Vernon Township on a footing similar to Buck Creek Township and Sugar Creek Township in western Hancock County, albeit at a much more modest level.
Buck Creek Township Trustee Melvin Branson said the township has 22 paid firefighters and about the same amount of volunteers. Its stations are on standby 24 hours a day. Four firefighters are on duty at one of the stations while three are on duty at the other, he added. Firefighters also provide the township’s ambulance services.
The township’s most recent fire station opened about nine years ago at Hancock Regional Airport.
The township’s firefighting budget for 2019 is about $1.8 million, Branson said.
Sugar Creek Township Trustee Bob Boyer said the township has 39 paid full-time firefighters, about eight volunteers and two stations staffed 24 hours a day. The township’s newest fire station opened on County Road 500W just south of U.S. 40 in 2018. Sugar Creek Township’s 2019 fire budget is almost $6 million.
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New Vernon Township fire station
$4.25 million
About 14,000 square feet
Four-door bay
Sleeping quarters
Living room
Kitchen
Recreational room
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