UPDATE: MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - Alaiedon Township, Delhi Township and Meridian Township have reached an agreement for Meridian to provide fire and rescue services to a portion of Alaiedon Township.

"Alaiedon Township does not have a fire department," said Fire Chief Fred Cowper. “I think it's the right thing to do. If someone's having a heart attack, you send the closest vehicle and those are the kinds of things we're working on for the future of Ingham County," said Cowper.

With this agreement fire and emergency services will be provided to Alaiedon Township from Meridian Township’s South Fire Station, from the service areas along the north of Sandhill Drive bordered by College Road on the west and Meridian Rd. on the east.

Cowper said, "It's been a long process, really since the towers went down in New York, fire departments have been looking at better communicating better working with each other, mutual aid agreements, automatic response those kinds of things, closest vehicle response. Those are the goals of the 21st century fire departments should be striving for."

The agreement was approved by the Meridian Township Board on Tuesday May 21, effective June 1st. Additional compensation will be giving for responding to the calls from Alaiedon Township as part of the agreement.


ORIGINAL STORY: MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - Meridian may help out a surrounding township with fire and rescue services