Green Lake Township broke ground Thursday on a new emergency services building on Tenth Street near the Township Hall in Interlochen - the culmination of 21 years of planning to expand and construct a new fire station next to the existing building.

Approximately 50 people attended the outdoor groundbreaking ceremony Thursday. Township voters in August approved a not-to-exceed 20-year, $3.2 million general bond to pay for a new emergency services facility and other related improvements. The new facility is expected to be up and running in January 2022.

Daryl Case, Green Lake Township's emergency services chief,  says the new facility will assist his department with providing better services. "The facility will have fire suppression in the sleeping quarters," Case says. "There will be a dedicated exercise/workout area and classroom for training and sponsoring education programs...this station will be conducive for our 24-hour staffing, and I believe it will assist with recruitment and retention of first responders." 

Case says the new facility will have a decontamination/disinfecting area separate from normal department activities, laundering equipment for firefighting gear, SCBA compressor and filling station, equipment storage, modern apparatus bays, and a maintenance area off of the apparatus floor. According to township leaders, the more functional facility will translate into quicker response times for calls.

"In the last four-plus years, our residents have seen us grow from a volunteer fire and basic life support agency to a 7/24/365 staffed advance life support and firefighting agency," says Township Supervisor Marv Radtke. Township leaders credit the late Rose Corneillie, who passed away in 1995, for leaving a substantial family trust donation to the fire department to start the account for the project.

Consultant Fleis & VandenBrink of Traverse City began working on the current project in 2017 as part a governmental complex master plan. F&V is providing design and construction engineering services. The township's current fire-rescue facility will be used for township administration, including offices, meeting space, storage, and training.

Photo credit: Green Lake Township