The two departments as they stand, November 2026

NOVEMBER 2026 · VERIFIED AGAINST THE DEPARTMENTS' OWN PAGES

The fire department: The Mishawaka Fire Department serves from four stations — Station 1 at 600 Union Street, Station 2 at 700 East McKinley Avenue (new in October 2024), Station 3 at 333 East Douglas Road, and Station 4 and the department's offices at 3000 East Harrison Road — with 120 or more career firefighters staffing twelve pieces of apparatus, in the city's own listing. Its chief is Joshua Jester, the twenty-first, appointed 3 February 2026. The department requires a minimum of twenty-nine people on duty twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year; its personnel are cross-trained as EMTs, over half of them AEMTs or paramedics; every vehicle carries oxygen, first aid and a semi-automatic defibrillator. Its stated responsibilities run from suppression, prevention and investigation through EMS, hazardous materials and education to water rescue and technical rescue; its Fire Prevention Bureau carries the code work. The apparatus of record, at the enthusiast roster's strength: Engine 81, a 2016 Sutphen Monarch, with Truck 81, a 2009 Sutphen 100-foot mid-mount platform, and Medic 81 at Station 1; Rescue 82, a 2004 KME walk-in, Engine 82, a 2017 Sutphen, and Medic 82 at Station 2; Engine 83, a 2023 Sutphen, and Ladder 83, a 2019 Sutphen 100-foot aerial, at Station 3; Engine 84, a 2023 Sutphen, at Station 4 — a Sutphen fleet, bought across two decades, standing where the hand-pumped Tiger stood in the line of succession.

The police department: The Mishawaka Police Department is headquartered with the city government at 100 Lincolnway West, under Chief Alex Arendt, in office since 27 August 2024. Its published divisions run from the Uniform Patrol Division and the K-9 Unit through the Detective Bureau, the Records Division and the Traffic Division; its officers work the twelve-hour shifts settled in September 2023. The department keeps its In Memoriam page and its annual Fallen Officer Memorial Ceremony for the four officers and the K-9 of its roll. It is, in November 2026, a department of the same age as its fire counterpart — both born of the 1904 settlement, both still housed in the city's consolidated seat — and the two together are the standing close of this section: the record of what Mishawaka built to be safe, from a borrowed hand engine and an elected marshal to two career departments whose own published strength this entry has carried at face value and no further.

Sources:

1. City of Mishawaka, Fire and EMS department page and department listing (read November 2026) — the four stations and addresses; 120+ career firefighters staffing twelve pieces of apparatus; the minimum of twenty-nine on duty at all times; EMT cross-training, over half AEMTs or paramedics; defibrillators on all vehicles; the responsibilities list; department address 3000 E. Harrison Road, phone (574) 257-0620.
2. City of Mishawaka, Police Department page (read November 2026) — headquarters at 100 Lincolnway West; the Uniform Patrol Division, K-9 Unit, Detective Bureau, Records and Traffic Divisions; the In Memoriam page.
3. Firefighting Wiki and RadioReference, Mishawaka station and apparatus records (enthusiast-maintained, read November 2026) — the apparatus roster by station, printed at that strength.