• The Bath Township Board recently held a public meeting to determine the future of the Bath Fire Department. The main question was how to remain open and serve the Bath community.
• The Bath Fire Department is in danger of closing because there are not enough people willing to volunteer to serve. South Dakota law requires a fire department to have a minimum of 15 volunteers. Bath currently has 12 registered firemen, but only five or six show up routinely
• One of the options the township is looking at is to become a satellite station.
• Jim Whitman, supervisor of the Bath Township Board, said the next steps are to try and find more volunteers in the area, and to discuss becoming a satellite station to one of the larger stations in the area, such as Groton, Columbia or Stratford
• "We would like to keep the department open, but realistically, without manpower, we can't do it," Whitman said. "The next option is to team up with another department."
• Whitman said he wants to keep it open, but if there aren't enough people available to fight the fire, keeping the department open doesn't make sense, and is a problem from a liability and safety standpoint.
• "I don't want to be the guy who tells someone their husband got killed fighting a fire because he didn't have anyone to help him," Whitman said.
• Scott Meints, emergency management director of Brown County, told the township board that if Bath does not find enough people and no one is willing to take Bath on as a satellite station, the township could join the Groton or Aberdeen fire districts and pay increased property taxes for fire protection, or the town must pay a fee for protection from Columbia or Stratford.
• David Stahl, treasurer on the Bath Township Board, said property taxes will increase even if the department stays open because the fire department needs to pay for new equipment.
• Money isn't a big obstacle to keeping the department open, many people are willing to donate money, or help apply for grants, but getting new fire suits doesn't matter if no one will wear them.
• Mark Elsperger, a Bath firefighter and Bath's former fire chief, said the township's proximity to Aberdeen makes it difficult to find volunteers who are able to respond to a fire. A lot of people go from Bath to Aberdeen to work, but it's almost impossible to recruit people from Aberdeen to serve on the Bath Fire Department.
• The ideal solution is to become a satellite station to one of the larger fire depart

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