The Portage Fire Department had another record year for calls. It responded to 6,137 calls in 2022, a slight increase from the year before.
But Fire Chief Randy Wilkening said Portage is five firefighters short, even after two retiring firefighters are set to be replaced. "I believe the state over the past 10 years, we've lost about one third of the EMTs and one third of the paramedics in the state. So it's statewide and pretty much country-wide that we're into a shortage," Wilkening told the Portage City Council last week.
He said neighboring Burns Harbor will only be able to have paramedics on its ambulances during the day, due to the shortage. Going forward, Portage hopes to attract new firefighters, by making it easier to apply online and by accepting applications on an ongoing basis.
Increasing the number of paramedics and EMTs is also a priority at the state level, according to State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box. "We really need to support Department of Homeland Security in how we recruit and how we train, how we advance the level of education that our EMS has, and how we retain those individuals, so that we go from basic life support to advanced life support and we have the ambulances that are equipped to manage all of that," Box said during last week's press conference outlining Governor Eric Holcomb's 2023 agenda.
The governor's agenda calls for more than doubling the number of firefighter training sites in the state, to further develop a regional training system.
