The Portage la Prairie fire department saw several improvements to its equipment and software capabilities this year. Fire Chief and Director of Public Safety Phil Carpenter says in 2017 they purchased some brand new self-contained breathing apparatus, noting it replaced equipment which was fifteen years old so this brought them up to speed on the latest technology. Carpenter says the department also worked on improving their fire prevention program----specifically how to make the inspection program more effective and efficient. He notes they developed a checklist for doing those tasks and so far it's been working out very well.

Carpenter adds they also purchased new fire department management software this past year, replacing software that was seventeen years old. He says this will better allow them to track statistics and they can also incorporate their emergency plans to have details of each building that's out there now.