At a Town of Zionsville Safety Board meeting, Chief Van Gorder told board members the town council had "approved to hire 3 new firefighters for calendar year '26," and that the department was also managing recent vacancies from a retirement and a job-separation for disability.

Deputy Chief of Operations Aaron Gibbons gave a detailed operational update, describing a rolling 21‑day staffing sheet and a pattern of yellow (daily shortfalls) and red (mandatory shift coverage) days. Gibbons said three firefighters are currently injured — two of those requiring surgeries with expected recoveries of about four to six months — and that the department does not expect the new hires to materially ease daily shortages until recruits complete training. "We won't see the staffing help until July," he said.

Gibbons described their recruitment pipeline and contingency steps: the department certified a hiring list from about "350 candidates," extended five conditional job offers and placed additional candidates on hold so medical and psychological testing (about $3,500 per candidate) can be completed quickly. He warned that candidates are on multiple hiring lists and could accept other offers if onboarding is delayed.

Board members asked about borrowing staff from neighboring departments or hiring part‑time personnel. Chiefs said bringing in part‑time staff is constrained by employer responsibilities — providing turnout gear, medical clearances and training — and would require additional Council appropriations; union representatives have expressed reservations about part‑time staffing as an emergency measure.

The chiefs noted two recruits currently in an academy are scheduled to graduate Dec. 5 and will require transition time before full shift integration, and that a larger improvement in daily staffing is anticipated after a planned recruit class in mid‑2026 completes training in July. The transcript includes both a statement that conditional offers and other measures would yield five immediate openings being filled and, elsewhere in the meeting, a remark that daily staffing still leaves the department "6 firefighters short"; both figures were reported by fire‑department speakers during the meeting and reflect different ways the department described its staffing gap.

The board requested a clearer, itemized breakdown of calls for service and response‑type counts at the next meeting to better understand operational demand and to inform future hiring and budgeting decisions.

The meeting record shows the board approved the meeting minutes at the start of the session (vote 5–0).