Saint Marys fire chief reports 331 calls in 2024, highlights mutual aid and training push

Chief Bill Krause reported the Saint Marys Fire Department responded to 331 calls in 2024 and said the city is relying on mutual aid and new recruits to sustain operations.

Krause told the council the department’s total fire loss for 2024 was $1,311,486 — $1,247,486 for building and contents and $64,000 for motor vehicles — and that “very unfortunate” incidents last year included a building fire that resulted in two fatalities. He said mutual aid given by the department totaled 57 incidents and mutual aid received totaled 13 incidents.

The figures matter, Krause said, because of staffing and training pressures facing volunteer departments. “I can’t stress enough that we are extremely fortunate to have an excellent mutual aid agreement with our local agencies and neighboring departments,” he said, and added that shrinking membership nationwide makes those pacts essential.

Krause gave the council a breakdown of call types: 28 building fires; 74 rescue and emergency medical responses; 80 hazardous-condition calls with no fire; 59 service calls; 17 good-intent calls; 40 false alarms; seven severe-weather responses; and 26 incidents classified as “special incident type,” for a total of 331 calls.

He reported average response times of 9 minutes, 14 seconds when including mutual-aid responses to calls outside Saint Marys, and 6 minutes, 20 seconds for responses inside Saint Marys only. Krause also noted weekly and daily patterns in 2024: the busiest days were Wednesday and Saturday (52 responses each), the slowest day was Thursday (38), and the busiest hours included roughly 1–2 a.m. and 4–5 p.m.

On staffing and training, Krause said the department has been able to recruit younger volunteers and that three new members are attending the Essentials of Firefighting program in DuBois, a roughly 200-hour training series. He described the department’s current average member age as unusually high — “from 55 to 85 years old” — and said the three trainees are expected to complete four modules by May and become fully trained interior firefighters.

Krause thanked local employers who release employees to answer calls and described school fire-prevention programs, open houses, and community outreach the department provided during the year. He closed by inviting council members to review the packet with detailed incident lists and property-loss breakdowns included in the meeting materials.

Krause also warned that a fatal fire last year “takes its toll on everyone involved — the family, the emergency responders, and community members,” and said the department and community are still affected by that event.

The council thanked Chief Krause and the department for their work and for the presentation.