Hudsonville reviews emergency preparedness; fire department reports grant awards and new truck timeline

Hudsonville's emergency management team briefed the City Commission on Oct. 14 about the Emergency Operations Center, communications systems and routine preparedness work, and the fire chief reported recent call volumes and equipment funding.

Dave, an emergency-management staff member, told commissioners the EOC provides radio and computer networking, maps and coordination tools to support frontline agencies and to run larger incidents. "That's the EOC," he said, describing the center's role in communications and integrating with county and state resources, including direct contact with National Weather Service meteorologists during severe-weather events.

Dave summarized regular preparedness activities: monthly activation tests (first Friday), siren tests and multi-path alerting to reach the public, noting Hudsonville has held National Weather Service storm-ready certification for more than 15 years. He also described training standards — FEMA ICS, CPR and traffic-direction training — intended to ensure local staff can "plug and play" with county and state response teams.

Fire Chief Esmerald reported the department responded to 58 calls in September and 558 year-to-date. He said crews participated in several notable responses and inspections for the new fire truck chassis, which is expected to return to the city and be in service sometime in 2026. "It would be nice if it was July, August time frame," Esmerald said.

On equipment funding, Esmerald said the department secured federal assistance through an Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) to update turnout gear. He estimated roughly $75,000 would outfit the department's 18 firefighters. Later in the meeting the city manager reported a related FEMA award amount of $71,429 with a $3,571 city match; both figures were presented to the commission during the session.

Commissioners praised the emergency-management and fire teams. Mayor Mark Northrop thanked staff for their visible support at public events and said the work the teams do is "profound," especially for parades and community functions that depend on behind-the-scenes coordination.

The city continues operating interagency training and is working with a vendor on a cell-phone tower project to improve communications; Dave said the remaining technical issues appear solvable. The commission received the reports and offered no further direction at this meeting.