Solon Fire Department recently promoted Ben Robinson to the position of Lieutenant on February 11 at the Solon Township Board, meeting effective immediately.

Ben moved to Solon Township five years ago with his wife, Elizabeth, due to a job relocation with Gill Industries, where he is employed full time as a welding engineer.  Ben and his wife enjoy spending time with their horses for leisure. Ben has seven years of fire service experience including Jerusalem Township, Ohio and Courtland Township, Michigan, prior to Solon Fire Department.

On September 10, 2019 at the Solon Township Board Meeting, four members of Solon FD were presented a Life Saving Award by the Kent County Emergency Medical Services, Medical Control Authority Systems Administrator, Mr. Lance Corey.

This award was given for their efforts with “Exceptional Patient Care” of a critically injured patient on August 16, 2018 suffered during a motor vehicle crash on Algoma Avenue near Quarter Horse Drive in Solon Township. The patient, Lila DeLine, had slowed or stopped to turn into a driveway and was hit from behind by another driver. The force of the impact caused her to suffer a life-threatening spinal cord injury—she was internally decapitated, an injury that usually proves fatal. She spent just over a week at Spectrum Health, and then transferred to Mary Free Bed for Rehabilitation. 

The members of the Solon Fire Department receiving the award included Matt Schievink, Taylor Hunt, Andrew Bobo, and Rich Hays. 

Pictured from L to R:  Solon Fire Chief Jeff Drake, Firefighters John Elliott, Rob Schmidt, and Ben Robinson.

Solon Fire Department (SFD) Firefighter Appreciation and Service Awards Dinner occurred on September 16, 2018. This annual event occurred at the Sparta Lanes with lane rental donated by Jr. Slaughter, proprietor of the lanes. Dinner from the Garden Patch restaurant was provided by the Solon Township Board.  Neighboring departments, including Sand Lake, Cedar Springs, Algoma, and Kent City Fire Departments provided alarm coverage during this time period.  

“This event provides the opportunity for the SFD members and their families to spend some non-alarm time together and recognize and thank everyone for their commitment and sacrifice to serve our wonderful community,” said Solon Fire Chief Jeff Drake.

 At this year’s event the following members received their badges upon successful completion of the Michigan Fire Fighter’s Training Council Fire Academy in April of 2018:

• Rob Schmidt
• John Elliott

At this year’s event, the following member received his badge after being hired as a certified fire fighter and upon successful completion of the SFD Field Training Program in March 2018

• Ben Robinson

 No member received the customary 5 year length of service award this year.

Shirts must be ordered by this Friday, Oct. 5

Would you like to show your support of the Solon Fire Department and breast cancer awareness at the same time? You’ll need to act fast to get in on it.

Solon Fire Department is wearing pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Shirts are being sold for $15.00 each with $7.00 per shirt to be donated to the Susan G Komen foundation.

Orders with payment (cash only) can be placed at the Solon Fire station thru October 5, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 2305 Nineteen Mile Road NE, Cedar Springs, MI 49319.

Shirts can be picked up at the station after 10-12-18.

Solon Firefighters with new equipment. (L to R) FF Rich Hays, FF Jordan Nielsen, FF Matt Schievink, FF Scott Johnson, Captain Doug Gabrielse, FF Jack Schmidt, FF Taylor Hunt, Deputy Chief Chris Paige.

In October, the Solon Fire Department was awarded the purchase of an Automatic Chest Compression Device through the generosity of the Firehouse Subs Community Foundation. Solon Fire Chief Jeff Drake said that this equipment recently arrived at Solon Fire Department, and that fire personnel completed the manufacturer’s recommended training. “We have added this equipment to our cache of tools to provide quality service to our customers,” said Drake.

He told the Post that this grant would enable SFD to provide high performance cardiac arrest treatment with three personnel versus the current need for optimally six persons rotating and performing manual compressions. It will give SFD the ability to deliver better CPR and provide a greater likelihood of patient survival.

This SUV split in half after the man driving it reportedly lost control and rolled it Tuesday morning in Ensley Township. Post photo by J. Reed.

By Judy Reed

A crash in Ensley Township sent two people to the hospital Tuesday, and left a SUV ripped in half.

The crash occurred shortly after 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, December 5, on 136^th St, just west of Cottonwood. Sand Lake Fire and Rescue responded to the scene, and asked for assistance from Cedar Springs and Solon Fire Departments.

According to firefighters at the scene, the SUV, which they said looked to be a Ford Excursion, was apparently traveling eastbound on 136^th Street when the male driver may have lost control on the dirt road and rolled the vehicle, which then split the top from the frame. The man’s leg was partially under the vehicle when firefighters arrived, and a young female passenger was out of the vehicle walking around. Firefighters reported the man was unresponsive.

AeroMed was called to the scene, but the man was transported by ambulance instead. Post photo by J. Reed.

AeroMed was called to the scene, and landed on the dirt road despite high winds. However, when it came time to transport the man, it was found that they would have to land at the Ford Airport and then transport the man to Butterworth, rather than landing on the roof of the hospital. That trip would take about 40 minutes and an ambulance trip only 30 minutes, so the man was transported by ambulance instead. A second ambulance was dispatched for the female.

Newaygo County Sheriff’s deputies were in charge at the scene but declined to comment other than to say one car was involved in the crash. The Post contacted them twice on Wednesday to inquire about a news release, but at press time Wednesday evening they had not yet issued any information. We will update our story when we have more information.

Crash at Indian Lakes and Algoma. The driver of the silver car was transported to Butterworth Hospital by Aeromed with severe injuries. Post photo by J. Reed.

By Judy Reed

A young woman suffered severe injuries Tuesday afternoon and was transported to Butterworth hospital by Aeromed after her car was t-boned by a pickup truck at Indian Lakes and Algoma Avenue.

The crash occurred about 3:20 p.m. on Tuesday, November 14.

Kyle Rand, of Rockford, told The Post at the scene that he was driving home from work southbound on Algoma when he witnessed the crash. He said the silver car was westbound on Indian Lakes and did a “rolling stop” at the stop sign—slowed but did not completely stop—before continuing into the intersection. “She must not have seen him, the white truck (traveling northbound),” said Rand. He added that the driver of the truck tried to avoid her.

The Dodge Ram truck t-boned the silver Ford Taurus, and the car rolled and landed on its hood on the NW side of the intersection.

Rand said that he and another man both witnessed the crash and tried to help.

“I saw it happen and I freaked out. I saw baby blankets in the back of the car so I searched the car [for a baby] but it was only her,” he explained, referring to the driver of the car.

The man driving the truck, Dennis Wayne Hathaway, 60, of Ensley Township, was checked out at the scene for chest and leg pain by Rockford Ambulance.

The woman driving the silver Ford Taurus was identified by the Kent County Sheriff Department as Olivia Erin Anderson, 21, of Alpine Township. She was extricated from the car by Algoma and Solon Fire Departments and transported by Aeromed to Butterworth Hospital with head trauma.

The scene was cleared at 5:43 p.m.

Spaghetti fundraiser and silent auction May 31 for lifesaving equipment

By Judy Reed

When someone you know and love is in cardiac arrest, you want to get them the best help possible. That’s why the Solon Township Fire Department is holding an all you can eat spaghetti dinner and silent auction at Big Boy, on Tuesday, May 31, from 5-8 p.m., to raise money for new equipment that will help save lives. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for children.

In 2016, there were more than 350,000 instances of sudden cardiac arrest (outside of hospitals), according to the American Heart Association. About 46 percent had CPR performed on them by a bystander, and only 12 percent survived. That might not sound like a high number, but it’s a number that’s climbed over the last several years, thanks to new lifesaving equipment available to paramedics that will automatically do chest compressions. And Solon Township Fire and Rescue is trying to raise money to buy the equipment to treat people locally.

Algoma and Kent City have the equipment, and Cedar Springs purchased it earlier this year after doing a fundraiser. Cedar Springs Fire Chief Marty Fraser said they were first introduced to it by Algoma Fire, who helped them on a call. “It’s an amazing piece of equipment and will help save lives,” he said.

According to Solon Fire Chief Jeff Drake, the equipment is about $15,000. They have received a $2,500 donation, and have also applied for a grant through Lowe’s.

Administering manual CPR is not easy work. It calls for 120 chest compressions a minute, and involves several paramedics. The new equipment would bring that number down.

According to Drake, automatic chest compression devices save precious amounts of time, manpower, and increase a patient’s survival rate substantially. They are safe and efficient tools that standardize chest compressions during cardiac arrest and are in accordance with the latest scientific guidelines developed by the American Heart Association.

One case where they had to use manual CPR occurred in February. The woman’s husband later thanked Solon first responders at a township board meeting. Tom Decker praised the responders for their efforts when his wife, who was in the late stages of Alzheimer’s, collapsed in their home. He began to do chest compressions, and then Solon Fire responded within minutes and took over. They eventually got her heart beating again, and she was sent to the hospital.

“Sadly she did not regain consciousness and passed away on the evening of the second (of February),” wrote Tom. “That was God’s will, not our first responders. At my request, they did everything possible in their efforts to save her. They were obviously well trained, dedicated, driven, and efficient, yet compassionate and understanding…I do want them to know how grateful I will always be for their service to my wife. Even though I don’t know them, they are my heroes.”

Getting the equipment to do automatic chest compressions will help the rescue workers in cases such as Mrs. Decker’s, and others.

You can help by attending the all you can eat spaghetti dinner and silent auction. Some of the items being auctioned off include a TV, Tiger baseball tickets (10^th row), Whitecaps tickets, and a $25 Dairy Queen gift card.

Senior citizens and low income residents first on list

The Solon Fire Department (SFD) has joined forces with the American Red Cross (ARC) to support their Home Fire Preparedness Campaign with a National Goal of a 25 percent reduction in home fire deaths and injuries in five years.

Did you know that on average, 7 people die every day from home fires in the United States? Properly installed and maintained smoke detectors save lives and protect against injury and loss due to fire.

According to Solon Fire Chief Jeff Drake, initial target homes will be low income and senior citizen residences in Solon Township. Both rental and owned properties qualify for this campaign.

The SFD will provide up to three smoke detectors per residence to help support the need to have a working smoke detector on every level, and every room of a residence. This amount of detector saturation provides the best opportunity for early warning of a fire, leading to survival of a residential home fire and much safer and cost effective suppression efforts by the fire department to limit dollar loss.

The smoke detectors to be installed are a 10-year Lithium Ion battery powered device.

There is no need for battery changes every 6 months. Simply dispose of the detector after ten years. Monthly testing is the only maintenance item required. A home fire safety survey will also be provided during the smoke detector install. A 20-30 minute appointment scheduled through the Solon Fire Department at smokedetectors@solontwp.org, or 616-696-0020 will be required.