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Air Quality Alert: Wildfire smoke from fires in southern Ontario, Canada and northeast Minnesota has moved into Wisconsin, creating unhealthy air quality conditions. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has issued an Air Quality Advisory through noon on Thursday. Air quality is expected to reach the Unhealthy to Very Unhealthy level, with the potential to reach the Hazardous Air Quality Index level. The advisory will be re-evaluated Thursday morning and may be extended based on conditions. According to the Department of Health Services, wildfire smoke can affect anyone, but people who may notice symptoms sooner include older adults, young children, people who are pregnant, outdoor workers, and individuals with heart or lung conditions such as asthma or COPD.

Posted on , by Dado

Weekly Blast

The Town Board held its monthly meeting on Wednesday. Here are several noteworthy items:

  • Road base material awards went to Earth Inc. for ¾” hard rock and to Red Rock Granite, Inc. for 1 ¼” screened red granite. To start, the Board agreed to allocate $14,150 to purchase hard rock to complete a section of Evergreen Ave. west of County Road F which began last year.
  • The final count on Tire Day was 358 tires collected with $2,344 received from residents. The invoice we received from Liberty Tire Recycling was $3,499.51 creating a differential of $1,155.51. This amount will be paid from our town budget and added to the 2026 operational costs of the Transfer Station. Sadly, this difference is due to “road-killed tires” that people live in our ditches and road rights of ways. If you ever see this happening, please note a license plate or other descriptive information that we can pass on to law enforcement.
  • Each year we receive a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for our recycling efforts. We received $2,289.05 based on two components: $1,841.99 from the basic recycling grant award and $447.06 from the recycling consolidation grant award. Thanks are extended to Clerk Stefanie Schlapa for compiling the required information for the Dept. on our behalf.

Last evening I attended the Ambulance Board meeting with our partners from the Wood County Towns of Grand Rapids, Rudolph, Seneca, Sigel, and the Village of Rudolph. Gary Johnson, co-owner of United Emergency Medical Response (UEMR) provided an update. If you were at the Town of Grant’s Annual Meeting you may recall two areas of concern which were reiterated last night:

  • People are calling 911 for “lift assists” instead of calling their family, friends, or neighbors. UEMR receives 2 to 4 of these calls per week. These people are not injured but need help getting off the ground, out of chairs, off toilets, out of their cars, etc. Although UEMR is happy to provide this service current state laws to not allow ambulances to divert from a lift assist to a “true” 911 call. UEMR’s concern, due to the large geographic area that they service, is that one day they may have to delay a response to a heart attack, stroke, or other emergency due to a lift assist where the individual has other options for assistance.
  • Accidental Medic Alert activations (bracelets & necklaces). UEMR receives about 2 of these calls per week. Like above, rather than calling 911, family, friends, etc. should be the “first alert” on the device rather than the ambulance. The life alert companies that boast about saving a life every so many seconds do so because they recommend 911 as the first call in a successful effort to boost their statistics. Garry reported that many times people activate these devices simply by rolling over them in bed. This results in UEMR sometimes breaking doors or windows to gain access to homes to find the resident sleeping.

It really is true…you learn something every day! Enjoy the weekend, Sharon