Cascade Township fire department unveils 2025–2028 strategic plan, flags med-3 calls and southwest coverage gaps

Cascade Charter Township’s fire chief presented a 2025–2028 strategic plan to the township board that lays out four lines of effort: roster development, community involvement, infrastructure, and growth opportunities, and highlights rising call volumes and equipment costs.

The plan, which chief described as developed with the public safety advisory committee and substantial citizen input, summarizes department assets and performance: the township covers about 35½ square miles, and the department runs three engines, a medic pickup, a reserve engine, a rescue boat, a brush truck and a water tender. The department reported an average 911-to-on-scene time of 5 minutes 33 seconds, under the 6-minute national benchmark, but noted geographic gaps on coverage maps.

Chief said the department averages about 2,650 calls per year (roughly 7.5 calls per day) and cited a 2023 time study showing crews are actively responding or performing related work roughly 16 of every 24 hours. The presentation forecast a sustained annual growth in calls of about 5 percent; at that rate the department expects more than 4,000 annual calls in a decade, a load that could make current staffing levels unsustainable without additional hires or operational changes.

About 70 percent of calls are medical in nature, and the chief emphasized a high volume of low-acuity “med 3” calls (roughly 700–1,000 annually). He presented three possible responses: maintain the current approach; discontinue routine med-3 responses (the practice in many neighboring departments); or move to a fire-based ambulance model in which township crews would transport patients and the department would bill for transport. The department’s citizen input committee and internal staff recommended exploring the fire-based ambulance option.

The plan flags the southwest area near the airport and a proposed Meadowbrook Apartments (approximately 500 units cited in the presentation) as a zone likely to exceed Station 2’s capacity within about 7–10 years. Chief recommended a station-location analysis by a third party and included station 2 maintenance, emergency-weather siren coverage expansions, and equipment modernization among infrastructure priorities.

Other plan elements address recruitment and retention of paid-on-call staff (noting national declines in volunteerism and training costs and timelines), succession planning for senior officers expected to retire in the next 5–7 years, and use of the department’s prevention and inspection teams to generate revenue.

Trustees asked about county practices and coverage implications: the chief said about three or four Kent County departments provide the same med-3 level response. Trustees also questioned whether a new station south of the airport would solve southeast and northwest gaps; the chief said land the township owns could serve parts of the southwest but would not extend service across the river.

The department asked the board to accept and file the strategic plan as a reference for decisions during the board’s current term.