Tippecanoe Township Fire Chief Jeremy Likens, left, discusses business with Tippecanoe Township Fire Territory board member Mark Lawson prior to the board meeting Tuesday night. InkFreeNews photo by Keith Knepp.

By Keith Knepp
InkFreeNews

NORTH WEBSTER — During the Tuesday, Feb. 21, evening Tippecanoe Township Fire Territory board meeting, members received an update from Township Trustee Chris Francis on the renovation status of the fire department building and the two adjacent properties recently purchased, including the old theater.

He noted he held a second formal meeting with the architectural group responsible for the design of the spaces. Schematics have been developed, which will be presented to the board in the near future.

“They have started to lay things out pretty close to the way we had envisioned it,” said Francis. “They are conducting a little deeper engineering and structural study of the building to try to determine how bad the sinking is with the current structure and what we need to do to the station itself. I know it’s getting worse.”

In other business, Fire Chief Jeremy Likens provided an update on the moving of the town’s tornado sirens to locations that would better benefit the community. He also informed the board that repair estimates are being gathered for one of the department’s ambulances damaged during a service call last month. He said the vehicle was still usable and structurally sound, but repairs would need to be made in the future. Likens also noted that the Dodge Durango owned by the fire territory has been in the repair shop for the past month, but was picked up this week with repairs completed.

Likens noted that in January, TTFT responded to 56 EMS calls, nine fire calls and made three runs into Noble County per its agreement with townships in that county. Year to date, the department has responded to 107 calls, which is around 10 behind the same period in 2022.

The next TTFT meeting will be Tuesday, March 14, following the North Webster Town Council meeting in the North Webster Community Center. The public is welcome to attend.