Silver Lake Fire Department Loses: Burning Out of Control?

(Silver Lake)--Six firefighters hang up their gear, leaving one village fire department struggling to just function.

The interim fire chief for Silver Lake in Kenosha County, Roger Pattie, has many concerns for his community after his force shrunk to about a third of its size. The resignations reportedly happened after continuous disagreements with the village board and drastic cuts in operation and maintenance. Most recently, I'm told, the overall budget has been cut by 50%. State law says you can’t cut more than 10% in one year.

A village board member said, off camera, there's no need for concern, seeing there are three nearby fire departments close at hand to assist if need be.

Meantime, there's is aggressive social and \"old fashionded\" networking happening, whether it be on Facebook or going door to door, to try to increase the numbers on the force again.
Pattie says he hopes the resigned firefighters will reconsider and return to the force. Meantime, CBS58 News has learned the town of Salem, only a few miles down the road, will give the village \"full response\" backup if needed.