ST. JOSEPH COUNTY — The new year will also mean a newer, bigger fire department in St. Joseph County. On Friday the Harris Township Fire Station will officially merge with Clay Fire Territory. The two departments began talks a year ago after Harris Township had to take out emergency loans to stay afloat.

Authorities say all fire stations will stay where they area and most firefighters will stay assigned to where they already work.They say the merger will help not only financially, but will also make both departments more efficient.

?We really think it's a win-win for everybody. We think absolutely the community is going to benefit from enhanced service and we think for the fire departments it's going to allow us to provide better service to our community,? said Clay Fire Territory Chief Timm Schabbel.

At the end of the day it's about Mrs. Smith at 3 a.m. having an emergency and we need to be able to effectively serving her when she has the emergency,? said Harris Township Fire Chief John Vance. ?This was really our best option to be able to continue to serve the public and do it in a quick and efficient way.

The merged department will include 58 full time, paid firefighters and 45 volunteer or part-time firefighters. It will cover more than 60,000 homes: about a third of the county's population. They anticipate as many as 5,000 calls next year.

In 2006, German Township Fire Department also merged with Clay Fire Territory.

By Dustin Grove (grove@wsbt.com) http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/80433292.html