CALUMET TOWNSHIP – Officials in Calumet Township and the villages of Calumet and Laurium are continuing their efforts to consolidate their fire departments into one authority.

At the December, 2025 Village Council meeting, Laurium Village Manager Ian Lewis submitted proposed Articles of Incorporation for the Fire Department Consolidation to Calumet Township Supervisor Tim Gasperich and Calumet Village Manager Megan Haselden for review.

On Wednesday, Lewis said they worked together on a redraft of the document, and a second draft of the Articles of Incorporation were recently submitted to the supervisors for review by their councils and boards.

“Hopefully, we get things moving after this draft,” he said.

Lewis said he hopes the Village Council and the Township Board will discuss the drafts at their upcoming meetings.

“Megan and Tim will either do it this month or at the May meetings, depending on how full their meeting agendas are,” he said.

Lewis said while the second draft is set for review very soon, the fire chiefs of the three departments are preparing public engagement.

“It sounds like the chiefs, and maybe some officers, are going to start speaking and trying to get things moving,” Lewis said.

The plan to consolidate the departments began in 2025 when Calumet Township Supervisor Tim Gasperich started a discussion at a regular Township Board meeting on the possible formation of a Consolidated Fire Authority to combine the villages with the Township.

The original Articles were drafted by Lewis, who while an attorney, is not licensed in Michigan. He said the information was taken from several other municipalities who have gone through a similar process. Some things will be left to legal counsel. Intergovernmental agreements will ensure training together and continued mutual aid.

Lewis said a consolidation of the departments into one fire protection authority should save the individual municipalities money, particularly if a new building was to be constructed and all equipment was housed under one roof.

“The key thing, I think, is the consolidation will allow for vehicles to be put onto a fleet schedule, probably better than what they have been in the past,” Lewis said.

Currently, he said vehicles are replaced every 20 to 25 years. Consolidation could change that to every 10 to 15 years.

As an example, last week the Laurium Fire Department received a new received a new fire equipment vehicle valued at $250,000. It replaced a similar vehicle that was 43 years old.