SHAES 2026 Q3 Community Update

As we wrap up the third quarter of 2026, I wanted to take a moment to share a few of the things that have been happening around SHAES. It has been another very busy summer, and I continue to be proud of the work our members are doing every day.

Call volume continues to climb. We surpassed 2,000 incidents earlier than ever this year, and by late September we were already well ahead of last year’s pace. July and August were particularly busy, with August becoming our busiest August on record. Our crews have handled everything from structure fires, medical emergencies and water rescues to storms, gas leaks, vehicle accidents and a wide variety of other calls. On several occasions, multiple incidents have occurred at the same time, requiring some creative staffing and assistance from our neighboring departments.

We also took an important step forward with our new part-time staffing program, which began in September. Our traditional Paid on Call system remains an important part of SHAES, but with more members working out of town or being unavailable during traditional work hours, having personnel scheduled at the station helps us maintain the level of service our community expects.

We’ve continued to invest in equipment and training. A $6,000 grant from the South Haven Rotary Club allowed us to purchase three new AEDs to replace aging or out-of-service units. We also received funding from the South Haven Community Foundation that allowed us to put our new drone into service, giving us another valuable tool for search, rescue and incident management. We’ve continued hands-on training in areas such as water rescue, extrication, Mayday operations and water supply, while our members have also taken advantage of numerous regional fire and EMS training opportunities.

Our community involvement has remained strong throughout the summer. SHAES participated in National Night Out, Salute to Veterans, youth football activities, school and career programs, community events and numerous public safety functions. We also hosted a child passenger safety technician course instructed by Pam Ford of Bronson Safe Kids, and continue to provide smoke and CO alarms to residents who need them.

One of the highlights of the quarter was our Labor Day Pancake Breakfast, which raised $6,337, the most we’ve ever raised at one of our breakfasts! A portion of the proceeds will help us purchase battery-powered extrication tools for Station 1, while the remainder was donated to retired Ganges Fire Chief Doug Compton as he continues his fight with cancer. The community’s support was incredible, and we are grateful.

We also marked a very special milestone this year, our 30th anniversary. It has been a great opportunity to look back at how far this organization has come while also looking ahead to what our community will need from us in the future.

Finally, we launched our new SHAES website this summer. Tom Renner, Denise Hartmann and others put a tremendous amount of work into updating it while preserving the history and information that has been built into SHAES.org over the years. We hope you’ll take a look.

There is a lot more happening behind the scenes than can fit into one post, but the common thread is pretty simple: our members continue to work hard to provide the best service we can to the communities we serve.

Thank you to our residents, businesses, neighboring departments, community organizations and all of our supporters for continuing to stand behind SHAES. We appreciate you more than you know.

Brandon Hinz