Retiring Moscow Township fire chief honored during department open house

MOSCOW — Long-serving Moscow Township Fire Chief Patti Adkins-Smith has relinquished command to the department’s new fire chief, Josh Pankhurst.

Adkins-Smith took the reins in 2012 during a tumultuous time for the department where a series of unfortunate events and staff turnovers left the department to rebuild.

She jokes that “it’s been the longest year” because when she took over leadership of the department on U.S. 12 in northeast Hillsdale County she told the township board that she would give them a year.

Her “year” of leadership came to an end this year.

Adkins-Smith said the rebuilt volunteer fire department is a tight-knit second family to all of the firefighters serving the township and many of them go above and beyond not just for their community but for their fellow firefighters.

Those same firefighters joined Adkins-Smith and her husband, John, in dedicating hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteer manpower hours in literally rebuilding the department’s firehouse this past year.

Pankhurst said the department’s original 1953 garage had severe structural issues and, when the township came into new revenue from wind turbines, the board all-out supported the department with allocating funding to build new.

Without a dedicated tax millage for fire protection, the township funding built a shell of the new station and a combination of overwhelming community support from donations, contractor’s discounts and the department’s own volunteer hours finished the build.

Adkins-Smith was honored for her dedication and leadership of the department during an open house May 18 to showcase what physically represents the rebirth of the Moscow Township Fire Department.

“Before, when we wanted to use the department for anything, we had to pull trucks out,” Pankhurst said. “There wasn’t a training room or any of the modern needs of a firehouse.”

The new facility includes office space, a kitchen and a training room with modern technologies that will allow the department to capitalize on technology-based learning moving forward.

Pankhurst said that Adkins-Smith and her husband, who also serves in the department, were critical in not only designing but physically building the new department.

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“Patti and John were here almost everyday while the rest of us trickled in as we could,” Pankhurst said.

Adkins-Smith said the new firehouse will set the department up for success for the next 50 years and allow for the department to grow and adapt to the needs of the community, whatever that might be.

While Adkins-Smith has stood down from a leadership position in the department, she and her husband remain active volunteer firefighters and medical first responders.

— Contact Reporter Corey Murray at cmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.

This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Retiring Moscow Township fire chief honored