Railroad Township Volunteer Firefighters are apparently back on the job. At about 7:30 Thursday evening, Fire Chief Trask Darabaris told WKVI News that the department was back in service, after questions about insurance coverage were resolved. He said the reason his department had temporarily stopped responding to calls was that firefighters did not know which members were covered by the township’s insurance and which were not, if someone were to be injured while on a call.
Darabaris says that while that main issue is now resolved, the department is still waiting to be reimbursed by the township for equipment purchases. Firefighters had also listed a number of other ways they believed the township was failing to uphold its end of the contract. Meanwhile, Darabaris disputes a claim from Trustee Clerk Sarah Gillard that a township-owned vehicle has gone missing, saying that the fire department – not the township – has the title and other documents for it.
The dispute between the township and the volunteer fire department followed a decision last week in Starke Circuit Court, in which the township was granted a temporary restraining order against Andy Tilleraas. Township officials said he had been dismissed from the department but continued to act as a firefighter anyway. Now, Darabaris says Tilleraas is still a member. The Railroad Township Volunteer Fire Department was incorporated by Tilleraas in January of 2017, after Trustee Mandy Thomason and the township’s longtime fire department, the San Pierre Volunteer Fire Department, were unable to agree on a contract renewal.
