Lum Fire Department history is deep

Clubhouse fire suspect arrested and charged

 

Editor’s note: Here is part 2 of a three part series on the history of the Lum Fire Department. Our thanks to Shelly and Ray Swain for sharing information and photographs.

LUM (ARCADIA TWP.) — The story resumes as the investigation continues into the person of interest in the fire at the clubhouse of what is now known as Castle Creek Golf Club.

Then a duffle bag was found in the ditch nearby and it contained two liquor bottles that came from the clubhouse and some tax papers along with a W-2 form belonging to a 23 year old Attica Twp man, Ronald Garcia.

A warrant was issued for his arrest and he was held in the Lapeer County jail on $10,000 bond. He was charged with arson, breaking and entering and larceny of a building.

His court appointed attorney, John Lengemann, argued total lack of evidence and that the bottles in the duffle bag were not sufficient evidence to link Garcia to the fire.

In September of that year, Circuit Court Judge Norman Baguly dropped all the charges.

At the time, the golf course was owned by Virginia Content and she eventually rebuilt the club house which is now named Castle Creek.

In 1990 the fire department had an open house, believed to be the first one they held in the new fire hall. In 1997 they had another open house.

At each of these events the firemen had many things on display for the public to see and learn about.

They had old pictures of fires and controlled burns, some fire apparatus, the fire gear that they wear to fires and, of course, all of the fire trucks.

They also had the Smoke Trailer House from the Lapeer County Fireman’s Association on hand to have live demonstrations in which the public could participate.

These demonstrations taught you how to escape a house filled with smoke. The firemen also let the kids experience firsthand spraying water from a fire hose.

Around 1990 the township & fire department purchased an older International 1000 gallon tanker in hopes of it helping shore up more water hauling capacity.

They only kept this truck for a few years and in 1993 they sold “Old Emmett” (as it was referred to) at Fast Freddie’s Lum Implement annual auction in downtown Lum.

Then in the mid to early 90’s the 5/4 ton truck was returned to the DNR in Laingsburg, MI and they brought home a 1976 ¾ ton Chevy pickup to use as a grass rig.

They wanted to give this truck a nice paint job, so Bob Johnson brought home some paint from his job at Champion Bus in Imlay City.

After they got it all painted, to the dismay of a few, the color had a pink hue to it. The truck was then sometimes called the “Pink Panther.”

But the name did not stop the truck from doing its job for many years.

In 1993 two new positions were added to the fire department. One being a training officer and the other a maintenance person.

Also in 1993 the township board was trying to figure out how to finance a much needed new fire truck.

The fire run charges ($250 per run) did not bring in enough revenue to support buying a new truck. In the fall of 1993, the township put it to a vote of the people for 1.5 mills for a period of 10 years.

The millage request was defeated by a 10% turn out of voters.

Then, in January of 1994, the township board voted to raise the cost of fire runs from $250 to $500 in hopes of generating enough money to fund a new fire truck.

At this time a new truck cost was between $100,000 and $125,000. In June of the same year, the township board decided to research creating a Fire Assessment District.

The board held a public hearing where residents voiced their opinions. Later, the board decided to table the issue until they could do more research.

Eventually, they did create a Fire Assessment District. With the new assessment, residents in the district are not charged for a fire run unless the fire is deemed neglectful or illegal.

The tax bills are called Public Safety and this also funds the Township Deputy.

In 1994 Mike Gonda stepped down from his position as Assistant Fire Chief and Bob Johnson stepped in. Then in 1995 Ray Swain resigned as Chief and Bob Johnson took that position with Tom Knaggs stepping into the Assistant Chief’s job (his second go around in this position).

Sometime in late 1995 or early 1996 the twp/fire dept. purchased a 1995 International pumper, replacing the 1978 Darley pumper (ugly yellow) which ended up at Lapeer County Vocational Technical Center (today known as Ed Tech).

Also in the mid 90’s the township bought a “new to them” GMC tanker from Deep South that was a used chassis, with a new tank.

In 2002 Bob Johnson stepped down from the Fire Chief position and Assistant Chief Tom Knaggs became the new Chief. At that time Ken Lalone became the new Assistant Chief.

Around 2003 Chief Knaggs and Twp. Supervisor Kevin Daley began the process of making plans for a new fire hall addition.

These plans were to make the existing township office building, which was connected to the fire hall directly to the west, into the addition to the fire hall.

To the west of that they would build another addition that would be the new township offices. However, the plans never came to fruition.

A few years later now under a new Twp Supervisor, John Howell, Knaggs, with the help of the firemen, had new plans drawn up for an addition to the fire hall on the east side of the current hall. Unfortunately, those plans also never materialized.

In the early 2000’s the department began doing Ice Rescue. The 1976 Chevy pickup (Pink Panther) that was used for grass fires now became a dual use truck.

It was now equipped with gear to do Ice Rescues in the winter and then the equipment is changed over every spring for fighting grass fires.

The ice rescue equipment consists of a boat, five wet suits, ropes and various other equipment used for ice rescue.

In the early 2000’s another fire truck was purchased, a Kenworth pumper/tanker combination that is still currently part of the fleet. It did not replace any other truck.

Sometime in the mid 2000’s the fire department stopped doing controlled burns. These controlled burns were generally abandoned houses or buildings and were a great source for training.

Although not clear, it’s believed the last controlled burn was the old tool shed at the Jack and Shirley Swain farm on Mitchell Lake Rd. That was in 2005.

The reason for no longer doing these controlled burns/trainings were EPA concerns.

In the mid 2000’s, the department acquired a large, old Army generator from the DNR that was connected to the fire hall and the township offices to have power when needed.

It ran on diesel and if the power went out in Lum, one of the firemen would go start it up, check on it often and replenish fuel as needed.

In 2009 or 2010, another fire truck joined the fleet when a Kenworth tanker was obtained.

In 2012 the fire department had their first ice rescue which turned out to be a recovery. The scene was on Stanton Lake, on the west side of Mitchell Lake Rd. north of town.

In 2016 Assistant Chief Ken Lalone stepped down from his position and Glen Kowalski stepped in until 2017 when Matt Grabowski became our new Assistant Chief.

Grabowski is currently the Assistant Chief.

In 2020 the township/department purchased a brand new Dodge one ton pickup. This truck does the same job as the “Pink Panther” – ice rescue in the winter and grass fires the rest of the year.

At times, it is used for fire personnel to go to a fire scene, if the fire trucks are not needed. The “Pink Panther” was sent back to the DNR in Laingsburg.

In 2021 they had another major fire. It happened in May at Jim’s Recycling, an auto salvage and scrap metal recycling business on Youngs Rd. north of Ostrom Rd. The call came in that a fire had started in the workshop area of the very large pole barn. The fire spread very quickly.

We will conclude the history of the Lum Fire Department next week with part three.