View the 2023 Annual Report

Marking its 27th year, the SHAES Authority serves the city of South Haven and the townships of Casco, Geneva and South Haven. The department is comprised of 17 fulltime staff and 30 paid-on-call firefighters protecting 97 square miles of land and several miles of Lake Michigan shoreline from three stations.

For the tenth consecutive year, the number of calls has increased from the previous year to a record 2,679. The previous record, set in 2022, was 2,659.

“Our call volume continued to show increases in the medical area,” said executive director Brandon Hinz. “SHAES provides a service that is unique when compared to the typical fire department. Many sleepless nights, short meals, missed functions and understanding families are wrapped up in our response numbers.”

There were 1,951 calls on the medical side compared to 1,902 in 2022. Fire alarms decreased from 757 to 727. SHAES has responded to more than 2,000 calls in each of the past eleven years.

There were 1,115 calls in the city of South Haven followed by South Haven township 672, Geneva township 444 and Casco township 376. SHAES provided mutual aid to other fire departments and EMS agencies on 72 occasions.

Fire losses totaled $1,583,650 compared to $846,016 in 2022. Losses by governmental unit were Casco township, $739,700; South Haven township, $563,050; Geneva township, $273,400; and city of South Haven, $7,550.

“The minimal loss from fire ($7,550) within the city of South Haven is noteworthy,” said Hinz. “I’m sure that to a great degree our robust inspection efforts from a dedicated staff, combined with citizen awareness through ongoing education initiatives, can be attributed to that. It’s amazing.”

SHAES continued an active inspection program which made 1,432 contacts, including 810 short-term rental and 83 food vendor fire safety inspections during the year.

There were no civilian fire-related deaths in 2023. There were two incidents in which a responder was injured either at an emergency scene or other work-related occurrence.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) sets a benchmark goal of 9 minutes, 20 seconds for departments to respond to an incident. This is from the time of dispatch to the arrival on the scene of the incident by the first unit. SHAES during 2023 had an average response time of 5 minutes, 52 seconds. The average response time by unit of government: city of South Haven, 4:05; South Haven township, 5:12; Casco township, 7:05; Geneva township, 7:06.

The department is striving to improve its response times to rural areas by bolstering staffing at the SHAES stations in Geneva and Casco township.

Zach Kenreich was honored as Firefighter of the Year and the department’s Leadership Award was presented to Phillip Quinn. The department added two full-time and three paid-on-call firefighters.

Department members presented the fire safety message to more than 1,500 kids at local schools and sponsored a successful public Fire Safety Fun Fair event. The department also participated in the first city-sponsored Touch-a-Truck event. The SHAES Honor Guard participated in impressive flag-raising events on Veterans Day at two elementary schools.

Scott Smith, who retired as mayor of the City of South Haven, was honored for his eight years as a SHAES board member. New city mayor Annie Brown was welcomed to the board.