The Shelby-Benona Fire Department provides protection to both Shelby and Benona
townships as well as to the Village of Shelby and the Village of New Era, which
are located in Oceana County. We are a paid on call department and serve a
population of about 7000 year round residents, that greatly increases during the
summer and covers an area of about 77 square miles.. Our district is a mix of
small town residential, some commercial and industrial, a large rural
agricultural community and nearly 7 miles of Lake Michigan beach front as well
as several other small inland lake developments.
We provide fire and vehicle extrication, assists to the county ambulance
service, limited tech rescue and hazardous materials response. We have a year
round fire prevention program and participate in various community outreach
activities.
We are governed by a 5 member board made up of representatives for the two
townships. Our members are trained to Firefighter 1 & 2 level along with
Hazardous Materials Operation Level. Our members attend additional trainings as
we have in our ranks firefighters who are Paramedic level as well as several
EMT’s and MFR trained firefighters. Several members have also completed Confined
Space Rescue and Advance vehicle extrication training. We have 2 Fire
Instructors and several other firefighters who have completed or are completing
the Fire Officer & Company Officer training.