An increasing demand for emergency services and collaboration with Empire Township were reported at Saturday's Annual Meeting in Glen Arbor Township.

Fire Chief John Dodson told board members and an audience of about 60 that his department responded to 570 calls in 2007 with 409 of them for emergency medical services (EMS). That’s 72 percent.

Fifty-two percent of the calls for EMS were for persons 60 and older. The figures do not include two occasions in one week in the first quarter of the year in which fire department personnel were toned out to six calls at a time.

“Two years ago, the department recorded 14 times when we were toned out to two calls at once,” Dodson said. “We don’t even bother to calculate that anymore because it happens so often.”

During the calendar year 2007, the chief reported the township Fire Department and EMS responded to 327 calls in Glen Arbor Township representing 60 percent of calls. Empire Township reported 13 percent of the total call volume with 188 calls for medical assistance and 18 fires. Responses to incidents within the National Park represented 9 percent of call volume. The most notable incident was the grass fire in the Port Oneida Historical District.

Twenty calls for EMS and five for fire were attributed to Kasson Township in 2007, representing seven percent of call volume. Another two percent went to Solon Township. Just one percent of calls requiring responses came from The Homestead.

In other fire business, Andy Dupont representing the township Emergency Services Advisory Commission (ESAC) and Supervisor John Soderholm updated those in attendance on talks with Empire Township to combine fire services similar to that which has been done with EMS. Pending approval by Empire Township the joint fire operation agreement would be overseen by a committee which includes four representatives from Glen Arbor and three from Empire Township. The first year of operations, Empire would pay Glen Arbor Township $685,000. In the second year of operations, the payment would increase at the rate of Empire Township’s taxable property value. The following year and beyond, costs would be shared by the townships with Glen Arbor paying 53 percent and Empire Township 47 percent.

“The initial savings for Glen Arbor Township is $50,000 in capital costs,” Soderholm said.