The Portage Fire Department continues to improve response times in the city and the surrounding coverage area.
Fire Chief Troy Haase recently said the times are improving but he remains concerned about the number of crew members who respond to emergency situations. Haase continues to search for more paid on-call members.
The response time for the department inside the city of Portage is down more than two minutes from the average response time last year. Haase reported the 2021 response time for Portage was 11 minutes, 16 seconds. In 2022 that number is down to just over 9 minutes. Response times remain higher for fire calls in the four towns the department also serves, but that average has dropped from recent years.
The department covers the city along with the towns of Caledonia, Lewiston, Pacific and Fort Winnebago. Haase has been chief in Portage since January 2021.