Pushing the limit: Lincoln Township firefighter trains for combat challenge

Lincoln Township Firefighter Brandon Chiarello will compete in the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge on Aug. 21 in Louisville. Many of competitors are full-time firefighters while he is a volunteer. (Tony Wittkowski | HP Staff)

By Tony Wittkowski | Business Reporter | The Herald-Palladium

STEVENSVILLE — The life of a firefighter demands endurance and is fraught with danger.

No one understands this more than Brandon Chiarello, who by day, works as a parts consultant at LeValley Chevrolet in Benton Township. After regular work hours, the Stevensville resident is a member of the Lincoln Township Fire Department and is intent on completing a goal he has set for himself.

For the last two years, Chiarello has been participating in the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge, which pits him against the clock and firefighters from across the country.

Chiarello, who has been an LTFD firefighter for five years, set out to complete the course in record time. His fastest time so far is two minutes, six seconds. The state record is one minute and 50 seconds.

“The competition hits all aspects of firefighting,” Chiarello said.

He said the No. 1 killer of firefighters is heart attacks – something he wants to eradicate in his unit and his own life. “Staying safe is a big thing for me. No one has ever done it from Lincoln (Township), let alone Berrien County.”

The challenge consists of five grueling events.

Firefighters start by carrying a hose called a “high-rise pack” that weighs 42 pounds up a five-story tower. When they reach the top, firefighters then hoist a rolled-up hose with a rope from the ground. After they finish, they move to the forcible entry prop, where they use a 9-pound mallet to drive a 160-pound sled down a track.

In the third event, competitors negotiate a 140-foot slalom course, moving quickly between fire hydrants. Then comes the hose target portion, where a fire hose filed with water is dragged 75 feet before the water is sprayed at a target.

The last event is the victim rescue. A 175-pound dummy is lifted and carried backwards more than 100 feet down a track. The last event is what Chiarello deems the hardest because “your legs turn to jelly at that point.”

All of these events are completed with the firefighters in full gear, while wearing an air pack and breathing bottled air. Chiarello competed in Indianapolis and Lexington, Ky., but will next go to Louisville, Ky., on Aug. 21.

He completed his first course in 2012 and said he came in unprepared.

“I always considered myself to be in shape, but this has opened my eyes on how much I need to train and control my breathing,” Chiarello said. “Now I have props at the fire station that I work out with in full gear, so I get used to running with an extra 70 pounds of equipment.”

As the 28-year-old has repeatedly shaved seconds off his course time, he has continued to up the ante on training. The fireman lifts weights Monday through Friday, while Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are reserved for endurance.

“The big thing is to have a clean run because there are so many stages that you can get marked for a penalty,” he said. “Realistically, I want to get under two minutes in August, but my goal is to break it by next year.”

A little help

Lincoln Township along with its fire department try to help Chiarello as much as possible, often supplying him with a vehicle and paying for his hotel rooms.

Chiarello said without the additional help, he wouldn’t be able to compete.

Lincoln Township Fire Lt. Griffin Ott said it’s worth it as Chiarello has proven to be the fire department’s main motivator for staying fit.

“Brandon is a very important part of our fire department,” Ott said. “This is his second year competing, but before that he has always been a jock who loves the physical aspect of the firefighting job.”

Ott describes Chiarello’s training as intense. He said it is only a matter of time before Chiarello brings home the state record.

“He’s a warrior,” he said. “He is competing for the entire fire department and the entire community. I know he can do anything he puts his mind to. It’s great to have him with us.”

As his training continues and the hours of preparation stack up, Chiarello said he has one other goal in mind.

“Since I was a little kid, I loved watching the big red trucks pull out of the station and race toward fires,” he said. “I’ll continue to do the competition. My hope is to some day serve in a larger capacity as a full-time firefighter.”

Contact Tony Wittkowski at twittkowski@thehp.com or (269) 932-0358. Follow him on Twitter @tonywittkowski.

(Author’s Note: This article was originally published on July 25, 2015)

Fermenting honey: Benton Harbor meadery begins selling to retailers

By Tony Wittkowski | Business Reporter | The Herald-Palladium

BENTON HARBOR — It’s known as the nectar of the Gods, and Paul Peterson has spent years perfecting its recipe.

The Royalton Township resident, who is also known as Pete Wylde in the renaissance fair crowd, began making mead a decade ago and sold his first bottles in Berrien County last Saturday.

In his early days of fermentation, Peterson made beer as he served in the military after being stationed in Germany. When he left in 1988, Peterson realized he had to learn how to make some of the beer he might never taste again.

That experience overseas birthed a beer with a light aftertaste that Peterson dubbed “Dragon’s Breath.” Years later, the name stuck as he began to make and sell mead.

As Peterson describes it, mead is a form of wine that is made from honey instead of grapes. And as any other aficionado of alcohol, Peterson has an abundance of knowledge when it comes to mead.

“Mead used to be the drink of weddings, and in medieval times part of the dowry was 28 days worth of mead to the couple,” Peterson said. “Since mead is known as a fertility aid, the term ‘honeymoon’ comes from mead culture. However, mead never came to the new world because when sugar was developed, it was cheaper than honey.”

With honey, water, yeast and other ingredients, Peterson’s mead has received recognition.

He started making it in 2005 when he worked at a renaissance fair, and by 2009 he was winning awards.

The blueberry mead he perfected won gold twice last year – once at the Michigan Mead Cup and once at International Amateur Wine Competition. His black cherry mead won bronze two years in a row at Winemaker Magazine in 2014 and 2015. Peterson’s blackberry mead won bronze at Winemaker magazine in 2014.

Peterson said while they do not have a storefront yet, the Black Dragon Meadery is now a production and distribution company that uses other stores to sell its product.

His plans are to develop a tasting room sometime next year in time for the Senior PGA event.

“We don’t have a public area yet,” he said. “We are distributing to retailers and restaurants in the meantime. I do have a microbrewer’s license waiting in the wings, but by then, we will be open to the public.”

For more information on Black Dragon Meadery, or to find out what retailers sell Peterson’s mead, visit the meadery’s website at www.blackdragonmeadery.com.

Contact Tony Wittkowski at twittkowski@thehp.com or (269) 932-0358. Follow him on Twitter @tonywittkowski.

(Author’s Note: This article was originally published on July 26, 2015)

From the ground to a wine glass

By Tony Wittkowski | Business Reporter | The Herald-Palladium

BENTON TOWNSHIP — After five years of tedious work and planning, Deborah and Jeffrey Pallas finally get their wish Saturday and Sunday.

The couple is having its grand opening for Vineyard 2121 from noon to 7 p.m., which will include food, catering and live music throughout the weekend.

The 38.5-acre farm is hard to miss at 2121 Kerlikowske Road near Red Arrow Highway and I-94.

The reason why it took so long? The Pallas’ started from the ground up ‒ literally.

“When we purchased it, it was a juice grape vineyard,” Deb said. “Knowing that our eventual goal was to open a winery, we ripped out the existing grape vineyard ourselves and set aside 15 acres. That was a very long process.”

For the last 32 years, Deb’s husband has been doing high-end outdoor living landscaping. Since Jeff is also a residential builder, he didn’t have to hire out for lot of the work done to the vineyard. Jeff said he felt burned out in the landscaping business and wanted to do something different as the wine industry was starting to take off in Southwest Michigan.

A friend of the Pallases, who happens to own a vineyard, knew that Jeff was interested in looking at some farm land and told them of the property in Benton Township they now own. Deb said they have lived in Southwest Michigan their whole lives and couldn’t picture leaving the area.

Upon visiting the land they knew was fertile, they found a way to stay in the area and make another business work.

“We decided to take a chance,” Deb said. “Now look at where we are. Five years later we are opening and only a month behind our projected schedule.”

Growing a business

The Pallases started getting the land ready by planting 2 acres of raspberries to have a good cash crop to get them through the five-year process.

Then came the wine grapes.

Last fall the vineyard got its first full harvest, which usually arrives in the third year planting.

“Of course right after we planted our grapes we had the two worst winters in 30 years,” Deb said. “They’ve maintained quite well, as two of our debuting whites will be from our very first harvest.”

Vineyard 2121 will start with 12 types of wine and two hard ciders. They will be split by taste and color ‒ six whites and six reds that will be sweet or dry.

The vineyard and winery has a kitchen in the tasting room with some light food options. The plan, Deb says, will be to move to a full kitchen and offer dinner entrees.

“Our main objective is the wine,” she said. “We want to be a destination and an experience. It’s in a very beautiful location and only a minute off the highway. You are not traveling a half hour down the back roads trying to figure out where you are.”

The property is equipped with four ponds, allowing Deb and Jeff to rent space for weddings, receptions, festivals and other events. There are three spots for wedding ceremonies with different looks and themes.

The vineyard’s regular hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and an additional hour from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday through Sunday.

A starting point

The couple had numerous names in the running and decided to go with something modern. The name stems from the street the original farm resides on.

“I remember I wrote it down on a napkin and slid it across the table to my husband and asked what he thought,” Deb said. “When he said he loved it, we trademarked it fairly quickly.”

With the help of a graphic designer, who made the labels for each wine selection, Deb began crafting her own wine bottles.

The Pallases researched what the daily operations of a vineyard were like by visiting other wineries and vineyards “under the radar.”

“It was a good learning curve for us. We just kind of sat back and watched how people did things,” Deb said. “Jeff and I are very entrepreneurial. We are not afraid of hard work or making it happen.”

While it has taken five years to get the vineyard open, Deb and Jeff are looking forward to the next five years.

“The weddings and the receptions will be big on our end as far as destinations go,” Deb said. “Most of the wedding venues that are similar to ours have been booked out one or two years already. All the other wedding vendors that we are working with are chomping at the bit for us to open.”

Contact Tony Wittkowski at twittkowski@thehp.com or (269) 932-0358. Follow him on Twitter @tonywittkowski.

(Author’s Note: This article was originally published on July 25, 2015)