Garretson Weekly

Sherman looking at dissolving fire department
Alan Van Ormer
Editor
September 25, 2007

SHERMAN – With it getting harder to find volunteer firefighters, Sherman is looking at dissolving the volunteer fire department.
“We dearly love to keep a fire department and we are really reluctant to dissolve it,” said Gerry Karpen, a trustee on the Sherman Town Board. “It will be a great sense of loss in the community.”
Current Fire Chief Neil Winterton is looking to retire, which is part of the reason the Sherman Town Board is looking at dissolving the volunteer fire department. He continues to respond and take care of duties as a fire chief until the town board makes a decision.
“I do not want to leave it high and dry,” he said. “One option is dissolving. I really hate for them to do that.”
Karpen has sent a letter to the Minnehaha County Fire Chief’s Association advising them that due to few residents being available to staff a fire department and respond to calls during the day, the Sherman Town Board has decided that it is time to dissolve the Sherman Volunteer Fire Department.
Michael Koopman, Baltic Fire Chief, who is also the president of the Minnehaha County Fire Chief’s Association, said it is tough. “It is like losing a school for somebody,” he said. “This will have an impact on the Garretson Fire Department more than anyone else.”
Karpen said Garretson’s volunteer fire department would handle any calls Sherman would have. “Typically, they would respond just as quickly as we would over the years,” said Karpen.
The Sherman Volunteer Fire Department has 15 members, which is the minimum required to staff a volunteer fire department. The fire department budget is $7,000 including $2,500 that goes to the Garretson Fire Department to be included in that community’s training exercises.
Discussion on dissolving surfaced two years ago. The Sherman Town Board was always hopeful it would find someway to turn the situation around, said Karpen. Recently, the town board received a letter from the Minnehaha County Fire Chief’s Association on what the status was for the volunteer fire department.
“It is time for the community of Sherman to realize we don’t have anyway to staff a fire department,” said Karpen.
Karpen said that if in two years, the ethanol plant would be built, then the town board would reassess the situation.
“It is a concern we don’t have one, but there is nothing we can do about it,” he said. “Our only option is to look to Garretson to provide us coverage. It is not an easy task and it is something we wish we didn’t have to do.”
Koopman said dissolving the fire department would have an impact on that direct area and in particular, Sherman. “For the people that put in the time to see something end, I’m sure it is a disappointment,” he said.
“We have skirted around the issue for a while in year’s past. They kept it going and I praise them for that.”

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