Tuesday,  October 16, 2012 • Vol. 13--No. 91 • 10 of 41 •  Other Editions

Bath annexation working well

• Some of the kinks that still needed to be worked out on the Bath annexation were worked out at the monthly meeting of the Groton Fireboard on Monday. Several members of the Bath Township board attended the meeting.
• Groton will take over anything pertaining to firefighting, such as the fire trucks, equipment and gear. Bath Township will retain ownership of the building currently used as a fire hall, with Groton leasing the building.
• According to Fire Chief Dion Bahr, the working arrangement is working out well. The firefighters from Bath have been attending the firemen meetings and responding to fire calls. Once more of them are trained on using the equipment at Groton, there will be a swapping of trucks so that the Bath trucks can be worked into the maintenance rotation. While the trucks are currently being maintained, Groton has all trucks go through a full check-up once a year.
• A complete list of equipment at the Bath Station still needs to be compiled and any old or unsafe gear discarded, however both stations have been busy that last couple of weeks. There is still a concern over the number of keys issued to the Bath Station. It was agreed that the Bath Township and the Groton Fire District would each purchase a keypad lock for the two doors into the building. The locks will be similar to the locks at the Groton Station, thus only allowing those with the combination into the buildings.
• A fuel account will need to be set up at the Bath Quick Stop for the refueling of the trucks. Bath uses WEB water to fill the trucks, so the account there will also need to be changed. A change of address will also be done so that the mail comes to Groton.
• Mike Glynn, who was the Bath Fire Chief, will be the acting "go-to-guy" for the Bath area. He will work with Bahr to make the annexation continue to go smoothly.
• Bath has a couple of guys that need certification and so does Groton. Bahr is looking into the possibility of hosting certification training in Groton. The Groton Department has four instructors currently on staff, and the guys could stay in town and work on their own equipment. Bahr will report on this more at the next meeting.
• There will be a training session next week. The State Fire Marshall will be conducting a propane burn on Tuesday, October 23 at 6 pm on the street outside the Groton Fire Hall. Full Circle Ag, Britton and Groton, will be donating 200 gallons of propane. Firefighters from Britton will also be attending the training.
• During the fire chief report, Bahr reported that the increased amount of fires the last couple of weeks has resulted in some equipment being damaged or destroyed and will need to be replaced. Two nozzles were broken while fighting fires and one of the float pumps used to pull water out of nearby bodies of water was damaged. It

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