New Fire Truck Purchase Approved in Nasewaupee

Nasewaupee Fire Rescue logo. File photo.

In preparation for the Town of Nasewaupee forming its own fire department after splitting this coming fall from the Southern Door Fire Department (SDFD), the Nasewaupee Town Board last week approved the purchase of a pumper truck priced at $30,000 that is now housed in SDFD’s station in Nasewaupee.

Nasewaupee town chair Steve Sullivan said the board also agreed to purchase four air packs and air bottles from the SDFD totaling $8,000.

He said the pumper truck, which the town now owns, will actually be leased back to the SDFD until Nasewaupee Fire Rescue begins operating on its own this fall. To be approved by the state of Wisconsin as a fire department, Nasewaupee needed a pumper truck, Sullivan said, and it will be obtaining other equipment in the future.

To own the fire station in Nasewaupee and the equipment in it upon leaving the SDFD, the town is exercising an option in the department’s original operating agreement to pay the remaining three municipalities “an amount equal to the percentage of the then-fair-market value of the property contributed by the remaining municipalities.”

Sullivan said Nasewaupee has contributed more than two-thirds toward the cost of operating the SDFD and believes it should be paying 32% of the fair-market value of the equipment as of the time when the town notified the other three municipalities last September that it is leaving the department.

He said Nasewaupee officials want to meet with representatives of the Village of Forestville and the towns of Forestville and Clay Banks to reach an agreement on the fair-market value of the equipment that Nasewaupee wants to purchase.

Nasewaupee’s Fire Committee, which will oversee the town’s fire department, also held its first meeting last week. The new committee includes two town supervisors – Tim Smith and Mark Hilsabeck – and three citizens members – Bill Krueger, Dave Holzen and George Sincock – and elected Krueger as chair, Holzen as vice chair and Smith as secretary.

Krueger said the committee recommended to the town board that it purchase new firefighter jackets and pants, and it also directed Jacob Schartner, who was previously selected as chief for the new department, to look into grants for fire department start-ups.