Jackson Township residents in Indiana may soon call 911 and wait much longer than they expect. Auburn Mayor Dave Clark has officially announced that the Auburn Fire Department will stop covering emergency calls in Jackson Township caused by the local volunteer department’s failure to respond. This is not a drill. This is a public safety crisis that has been building for months, and a dramatic turning point arrived on May 7.
A Contract That Died and a Promise That Wasn’t Kept
The roots of this standoff go back more than a year. Since mid-2024, the Auburn Fire Department had been responding to fire and medical calls in Jackson Township under a short-term contract, with the township paying $9,625 per quarter to Auburn for those services.
That agreement was always meant to be a bridge, not a permanent fix. The goal was to give the Jackson Township Volunteer Fire Department time to recruit and train more volunteers while a longer-term fire protection plan was sorted out.
It never happened. Auburn began discussions with Jackson Township leadership as far back as March 2024 to explore long-term fire protection solutions. None of the city’s proposals were accepted. When the contract expired on December 31, 2025, Auburn made its position clear: the city would not sign another short-term deal, and it would not participate in forming a new fire protection territory that included the township.
Jackson Township officials, for their part, said publicly they were “proactively enhancing” the volunteer fire department’s capabilities through recruitment and training. The township’s website has even actively called for new volunteers, noting that no prior experience is needed to join. But the results on the ground told a very different story.
A May 7 Medical Emergency That Broke the Silence
For 16 weeks after the contract ended, Auburn’s firefighters kept showing up anyway. Not because they had to. Because people needed help.
During that stretch, the Auburn Fire Department was repeatedly dispatched to Jackson Township after the local volunteer department failed to respond for seven to eight minutes, which is the standard benchmark for acceptable response times.
Then came May 7.
Auburn fire crews were called to a major medical emergency in the township after Jackson Township’s department was contacted three separate times across that seven-to-eight-minute window without a response. Mayor Clark was direct about what that delay means in practice.
“Major incidents, especially medical emergencies, can escalate very quickly. A rapid response gives someone the best possible outcome of survival.”
There was another troubling detail that kept coming up across multiple incidents. In several cases, Auburn units were already on their way to the scene when they were told to disregard and turn back, because Jackson Township crews had finally responded. And yet in those same situations, Auburn would likely have arrived first. The reason: many of the township’s volunteer firefighters do not live within the township. Some do not even live within DeKalb County.
Unpaid Bills and Five Years of No Help Back
After providing primary emergency response in the township from January through March 2026, Auburn sent Jackson Township a bill. Township Trustee Audra Wilcoxson acknowledged receiving it.
She refused to pay.
That refusal hit a raw nerve at Auburn City Hall. Officials pointed to a fact that makes the situation even harder to accept: Jackson Township’s fire department has not provided mutual aid to Auburn in more than five years. Not once. Emergency services are built on the idea that neighboring departments help each other. That relationship has been completely one-sided for years.
Mayor Clark said what many Auburn residents were already thinking.
“Our firefighters are committed to helping people, but there has to be clear responsibility and accountability for emergency services.”
The city’s position is straightforward. Auburn taxpayers have no legal obligation to fund emergency responses outside city limits, especially without compensation and with zero reciprocal support from the township being served.
What Jackson Township Residents Must Know Right Now
Auburn’s new policy does not mean a complete blackout on response. There are specific exceptions where Auburn crews will still respond to calls inside Jackson Township.
- First-alarm structure fires
- Mass casualty incidents
- Large-scale emergencies
- Situations where Jackson Township Fire is already tied up on another active call and a second emergency comes in
Residents living in the northern section of Jackson Township that falls within Auburn city limits are not affected by this change at all.
For everyone else in the township, the mayor and city officials are urging action. Mayor Clark suggested several long-term paths forward for the township to consider if it cannot reliably staff its own fire department.
| Long-Term Option | What It Involves |
|---|---|
| Township Merger | Combining Jackson Township with a neighboring township |
| County Fire District | DeKalb County creates and manages a new fire district |
| Join Existing Fire Territory | Jackson Township joins a nearby established fire territory |
Clark acknowledged these options may come with additional costs or higher taxes. But he framed the choice in the simplest way possible.
“Elected officials who are responsible for these services need to ask themselves one simple question: Can you put a price on a life? For me, that answer is no.”
A formal notice covering Auburn’s new response policy will be presented at the Auburn Board of Public Works and Safety and the Auburn Common Council on May 19. Both meetings are open to the public and are expected to draw significant attention from both sides of this dispute.
Residents who want answers or want to push for change are encouraged to contact Jackson Township Trustee Audra Wilcoxson directly at 260-925-2945, attend township advisory board meetings, or reach out to the DeKalb County Commissioners. The Indiana Public Access Counselor is also available as a resource for residents who want to understand their rights in this situation.
This dispute is no longer just about fire trucks and paperwork. It is about whether families in Jackson Township can count on someone showing up when they dial 911. With the formal notice coming on May 19 and the township still without a credible plan to staff its own volunteer department, time is running short for the people who live there and have no say in the political standoff happening above their heads. What happens next could set a precedent for how rural fire protection disputes are handled all across Indiana. Share your thoughts in the comments below. Do you think Auburn made the right call?
