Where They Go
One inside every bedroom, one right outside each sleeping area, and at least one on every level of the house — basement included. Mount them on the ceiling or high on the wall. Smoke rises.
Start Here
Numbers Worth Putting on the Fridge
When something is actually happening, nobody wants to be looking up a phone number. Write these down somewhere everyone in the house can find them.
-
911 — fire, medical, crash, or anything you're not sure about Don't hesitate because you think it might be nothing. We would far rather roll out and be turned around than get called twenty minutes late.
-
Chief Rick Hurley — (574) 527-0743 The fastest way to reach a person. Questions, a smoke alarm that keeps chirping, or anything else that isn't happening right now. The station line, (574) 566-2545, is a landline and we're only there for calls and training, so try the chief first.
-
Poison Control — 1-800-222-1222 Free, 24 hours, staffed by pharmacists and nurses. Chemicals, medications, or something a child swallowed.
-
Clay Township Trustee, Spencer Bartlett — (574) 566-2394 The trustee's office helps township residents who are in a tight spot with rent, utilities, food, and other basic needs. It's a service your taxes already pay for, and there's no shame in using it. If a fire or a hard stretch has put you behind, give Spencer a call.
-
Your electric utility — downed power lines Call 911 first, then the utility. Never touch or drive over a downed line, and stay back the length of a school bus. Assume every wire on the ground is live.
The Single Best Thing You Can Do
Smoke Alarms
Out here the truck is coming from town and the volunteers are coming from their jobs and their kitchen tables. The minutes that matter most are the ones before we ever get the call. A working alarm buys you those minutes.
Test Them Monthly
Push the button until it sounds. Pick a day you'll remember — the first of the month, or when you pay a bill. If it doesn't sound, it isn't protecting anybody.
Alarms Expire
Not just the batteries — the whole unit. Look on the back for a manufacture date. If it's more than ten years old, replace the alarm itself, even if it still chirps when you test it.
Get a Carbon Monoxide Alarm Too
Furnaces, water heaters, gas ranges, wood stoves, and attached garages all produce carbon monoxide. You can't see it or smell it. Put a CO alarm outside the sleeping areas and on every level.
Can't reach the ceiling, or can't afford an alarm? Call Chief Hurley at (574) 527-0743 and ask. We would much rather spend twenty minutes on a step ladder in your hallway than meet you on the worst night of your life. There's no charge and we won't ask you for anything.
More detail from the National Fire Protection Association: smoke alarm placement and replacement · carbon monoxide safety
Two Ways Out
Make a Plan Before You Need One
A house fire can fill a hallway with smoke you cannot see through in about the time it takes to read this paragraph. Nobody makes good decisions in that situation — which is exactly why you make them ahead of time.
Walk the house with everyone who lives there. It takes fifteen minutes, once.
- Find two ways out of every room — usually a door and a window
- Make sure the windows actually open, and that everyone can work them
- Pick one meeting place outside: the mailbox, a particular tree, the end of the drive
- Practice it twice a year, including once at night
- Teach kids that firefighters in gear are friends — we sound frightening on air packs
- Get out and stay out. Never go back in for anything or anyone — tell us who's missing and where they sleep
- Sleep with bedroom doors closed — a closed door buys real time against heat and smoke
What We Actually Get Called For
The Usual Suspects
Very few fires start dramatically. Most of them start with something ordinary that nobody was watching.
Cooking
The number one cause of home fires, and it's almost always an unattended pan. Stay in the kitchen when you're frying. If a pan catches, slide a lid over it and turn off the burner — never carry it outside, and never put water on a grease fire.
Space Heaters
Three feet of clear space on every side — bedding, curtains, laundry, newspapers, the dog. Plug them straight into the wall, never into an extension cord or power strip. Turn them off when you go to bed.
Wood Stoves & Chimneys
Have the chimney cleaned and inspected every year. Creosote builds up quietly and burns hot enough to take a roof. Ashes go in a metal can with a lid, outside, away from the house — they can hold live coals for days.
Electrical & Extension Cords
Extension cords are temporary, not permanent wiring. Never run them under rugs or through doorways. Breakers that trip over and over, warm outlets, or a burning smell mean call an electrician — not reset it again.
Dryer Lint
Clean the trap every single load, and get the vent duct out to the wall cleaned once a year. A clogged vent is a genuinely common way for a laundry room to catch fire in the middle of the night.
Grills & Burn Barrels
Grills stay off the porch and away from siding and overhangs. Burn barrels want a screen on top, bare ground around them, a hose within reach, and somebody standing there the whole time.
Fire Extinguishers
Remember the Word PASS
- Pull the pin
- Aim low, at the base of the fire — not the flames
- Squeeze the handle slowly
- Sweep side to side until it's out
Keep an ABC-rated extinguisher in the kitchen, the garage, and the barn or shop. Check the gauge twice a year — the needle belongs in the green.
Know When Not to Fight It
An extinguisher is for a fire the size of a wastebasket, caught in the first few seconds. It is not for a room. Get everybody out and call 911 first, then decide — and only if all of this is true:
- Everyone else is already out of the building
- The fire is small and not spreading
- The room isn't filling with smoke
- You have a clear way out at your back
If any one of those isn't true, leave. Every single thing in that house can be replaced. We mean that.
Living Out Here
Things That Only Matter in the Country
Rural response is a different animal. A few things you can do now will shave minutes off the worst day you'll ever have — and minutes are the whole game.
Make Your Address Visible
Reflective numbers at the end of the drive, readable from both directions and not grown over. We have genuinely lost time in the dark going past the right lane twice. This is the cheapest safety improvement you will ever make.
Keep the Lane Clear
An engine is wider, taller, and a great deal heavier than anything you drive. Trim branches back to about 14 feet up, keep the drive wide, and think about whether a loaded tanker can turn around in your yard without sinking in.
Know Your Water
Most of the township has no hydrants, so we haul water in. If you have a pond, cistern, or dry hydrant, tell us — and if you're building, ask us about access before the concrete goes in.
Farm Hazards
Let us know about anhydrous, bulk fuel, propane, chemical storage, or a grain bin. Knowing what's on your property before we arrive changes how we approach it. Nobody is inspecting you — we just want to come home too.
Tell Dispatch the Cross Road
A 911 address is exact, but a cross road is how the driver actually finds you at two in the morning. "Second drive past the curve" gets us there faster than a number alone.
Plan for a Longer Wait
We're volunteers. When the tones drop we're leaving a job site or a dinner table first. That's exactly why smoke alarms, escape plans, and a charged phone in the bedroom matter more out here than they do in a city.
Before You Light It
Open Burning
Burning a brush pile is a normal part of life out here, and most of the runs we make to one could have been avoided with a phone call. Two rules cover almost everything: know the rules before you light, and never leave it.
- Check the wind — if it's gusty or the ground is dry, wait for another day
- Clear bare ground well around the pile, and keep a hose or a tractor with a bucket right there
- Burn clean wood and brush only — never trash, tires, shingles, treated lumber, or plastic
- Stay with it until it's cold, and stir it out. Not "mostly out." Cold.
- Never use gasoline to start it
- Call Kosciusko County dispatch at (574) 267-5667 before a large controlled burn, so a passing neighbor's 911 call doesn't put a truck on the road for nothing
Rules change with the weather. Indiana regulates open burning statewide, and the county can put a burn ban in place during dry stretches. When in doubt, call us — we'd rather answer the question than put out the result.
Indiana open burning rules (IDEM) · Indiana DNR Division of Forestry · Kosciusko County government
When You Call
What Dispatch Needs From You
Dispatchers ask a lot of questions and it can feel like a delay. It isn't — in most cases we are already being toned out while they're still talking to you. Stay on the line and answer what they ask.
If you can do it safely, turn on the porch light and have somebody stand at the end of the drive to wave us in.
- Where — the address, and the nearest cross road
- What — house, barn, field, vehicle, chimney, smell of smoke
- Who — is everyone out, and is anyone hurt or unaccounted for
- Hazards — propane, fuel, livestock, chemicals, or oxygen in the home
- Your name and a callback number
- Then get out and stay out, and wait where we can see you
Afterward
If You've Had a Fire
The hours after a fire are disorienting and there's more to handle than anybody expects. Here's the short version, in roughly the order it matters.
- Don't go back in until the fire department clears the structure — floors, stairs, and roofs fail after a fire, and the air is not safe
- Call your insurance company as soon as you can. Many carriers have a 24-hour claims line and will arrange somewhere to stay tonight
- Call the Red Cross — they help with immediate lodging, food, and clothing after a home fire, and they don't charge for any of it
- Take photos of everything before anything gets moved or cleaned up
- Don't throw damaged items out until the adjuster has seen them
- Ask us for the incident report — your insurer will want it. Call the station or use the contact form and we'll get it to you
- Watch for rekindles in the days after, especially with barns, hay, mulch, and outbuildings. If anything smokes again, call 911 — don't try to handle it yourself
Just Ask
Things We're Glad to Do
None of these cost anything. We're a volunteer department, so give us some notice and understand that if the tones drop we'll have to reschedule.
Station Tours
Scout troops, school groups, church groups, or one kid who is really into fire trucks. Bring them by and we'll show them the rigs and let them try a helmet on.
Fire Safety Talks
We'll come to a classroom, a 4-H meeting, a senior group, or a business and talk through alarms, escape plans, and extinguishers.
Extinguisher Walkthrough
Ask us how to use the one hanging in your kitchen or shop, and how to tell when it needs replacing.
A Look at Your Property
Worried about access, water supply, or a hazard on the place? Ask and we'll come walk it with you. It isn't an inspection and there's no paperwork.
Common Questions
Things People Ask Us
Do you charge for responding to a call?
Never let a worry about a bill stop you from calling 911. Call first — we will sort anything else out afterward. If you have a question about a specific run, call the station and ask.
My smoke alarm keeps chirping. Do I need you?
A single chirp every 30 to 60 seconds almost always means a low battery, or an alarm past its ten-year life. Replace the battery first; if it keeps chirping, replace the whole unit. If you can't safely get to it, call us during the day and ask.
How do I get a copy of a fire or incident report?
Call the non-emergency number or send a message through our contact page with the address and the approximate date, and we'll get you what we have.
Can you fill my swimming pool or cistern?
Call the station and ask. It depends on the season, our water supply, and whether the trucks are needed elsewhere.
I smell smoke but I can't find anything. Should I call?
Yes. Call 911. An unexplained smell of smoke inside a house is exactly the kind of call we want — we have cameras that see inside walls, and finding nothing is a good outcome. Nobody here will be annoyed with you.
Is there anything I should tell you about my house ahead of time?
If someone in the home uses oxygen, is bedbound, or would need help getting out, tell us now rather than during the call. The same goes for large propane tanks, solar panels, or a locked gate at the road.
Elsewhere
Good Places to Read More
None of these are us, and none of them will ask you for anything. They're simply the best free information out there.
Home Fire Safety
NFPA — Home Fire Safety
U.S. Fire Administration
Ready.gov — Home Fires
Cooking & Heating
NFPA — Cooking Safety
NFPA — Heating Safety
USFA — Preventing Home Fires
Storms & Preparedness
National Weather Service — Northern Indiana
Building an Emergency Kit
Indiana Dept. of Homeland Security
Help After an Emergency
Burning & Outdoors
Right Here in Claypool
One More Thing
If You Didn't Find It Here, Call Us
There is no such thing as a dumb question about this stuff, and you will not be bothering anybody. Somebody at this department has been asked it before, and would much rather tell you now than find out later.