News photo by Josh Jambor The Alpena Southside fire station.

ALPENA – On Monday, the Alpena Township Board of Trustees voted to approve an upgrade to the fire department’s medical licensure.

The current level of licensure is Medical First Responder (MFR) to Basic Life Support (BLS) in a tight 4-3 vote.

The change elevates the department’s certification level without altering day-to-day operations or requiring new staffing plans, Alpena Township Fire Chief Tim Baker said.

Medical First Responder is Michigan’s entry-level emergency medical certification. It equips responders with core skills such as CPR, automated external defibrillator use, basic airway management, bleeding control, and scene safety.

Basic Life Support aligns with the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) scope of practice. It includes more comprehensive patient assessment, supplemental oxygen administration, advanced airway adjuncts, spinal motion restriction and limited medication assistance. The higher license allows trained EMTs to perform the full range of interventions they are certified to deliver, potentially improving patient outcomes during critical minutes before hospital transport or advanced care arrives.

Baker requested the upgrade on the matter from the trustees during the board meeting Monday..

“I request that we upgrade our license from MFR to BLS, this does not change anything operational wise it just increases our license level,” Baker said. “It does not implement any new plan; it just increases our certification as we currently have EMTs and it will allow them to work under that license.”

Baker told the trustees the department already has the personnel and plans in place to support the higher license.

“It will not impact any of the other staff that fill shifts for our full-time staff because we have plans in place to prevent that,” Baker said. “There is an initial cost of about $2,000 that would get equipment, licensing and the annual fee that we currently pay would increase minimally and we do have the money in the budget to do this.”

The department currently has seven full-time firefighters that are already certified EMT or higher, including Baker.

It also has five paid-on-call employees licensed at the EMT level or higher and one paid-on-call member licensed at the MFR level. three paid-on-call employees are currently without a medical license.

Alpena Township Clerk Michele Palevich voted against the motion and questioned the timing, noting past staffing challenges that had previously led the board to lower the license level to MFR.

“My question is why are we doing this now? If I remember correctly, we lowered it to MFR because of staffing issues and two of the items on tonight’s agenda are staffing issues,” Palevich said. “We have not been able to maintain six full-time EMTs for six months.”

Baker responded that the license upgrade is preparatory work ahead of a possible future assessment meant to demonstrate the department’s capabilities.

“This move is a move to be proactive and not reactive and to meet the needs of the community,” Baker said . “This is not a way to start an ambulance service or anything else, it’s just to enhance the capabilities of our staff.”

Alpena Township Supervisor Abbi Kaszubowski supported the upgrade and linked it to the ongoing discussions about a special assessment to increase fire department funding.

The township has tossed the idea of a new fire millage or a special assessment to help fund the fire department, but a final determination on either has not been made yet.

“We’ve had conversations about doing a special assessment for the fire department and in that assessment, we are asking for significantly more money,” Kaszubowski said. “My opinion on that is if we are going to ask for more, we need to be providing a better service.”

Kaszubowski provided an update on the special assessment process.

“We are at the point with the assessor where we are figuring out the cost of one unit so that we can move forward without increasing our revenue stream,” Kaszubowski said. “We must look at all the parcels and figure out how to fairly assign each one a unit of pay. That is what we are currently working on.”

Trustees Steve Lappan, Norm Poli and Palevich voted against the motion, while Kaszubowski, Treasurer Hilary Gilleand, Cash Kroll, and Russ Rhynard voted in favor of the heightened licensing.