Members of the Chippewa Falls City Council got their first look at how plans for the city's new fire station are coming together on Tuesday evening.

Steve Gausman of Five Bugles Designs, the firm contracted to design the station, took the council on a virtual walk through the just under 20,000 square foot building which will be just north of Business 29 on Chippewa Crossing Boulevard.

While the plans are only about 30 percent complete, so far, council members are liking what they see.

Gausman explained that the station was originally planned to have a footprint of about 22,000 square feet. But that was scaled down to save costs.

"We went through a lot of pain to distill this design down," Gausman explained. "We haven't lost any spaces but we have taken 2,000 square feet out of the drawing."

Additionally, Rob Krejci of the city engineering office, explained that the fire station is being designed to use both natural gas and propane as laying the natural gas line to the fire station is proving to be expensive.

The drawing showed a single story building that included five bays for fire trucks and equipment as well as a tower separating the apparatus bays from the living and administrative spaces.

This new fire station is expected to cost around $5 million and will serve as the Chippewa Falls Fire Department headquarters. The current fire station just behind City Hall on Bay Street will still be used, but the city's other fire station, located on Park Avenue, will be taken out of service.

For more information, view chippewa.com

The Moncton Fire Department requested an extra $110,000 this week to pay for a new fire truck it has on order.

Deputy Fire Chief Don McCabe said the floundering Canadian dollar is the main reason for the unexpected increased cost.

"Most of the custom truck manufacturers are all based out of the United States," he said.

On February 15, Moncton City Council was asked to vote on a change to a request for proposals for the latest model of a custom single axle fire truck.

The original budget for the new truck was $750,000 Canadian plus HST, which was the established cost in 2014, when the Canadian dollar was almost on par with the American greenback.

Council voted in favor to increase the amount it had originally budgeted.

For more information, view www.cbc.ca

FWD Seagrave has expanded sales and service in the state of California to strengthen response capability for past, current, and future customers.

Charlie Zuercher has joined Seagrave and will be linked with the California-based sales team of Jim Demattei and Adrian Anderson. This team has a combined experience of more than 100 years in fire service operations and fire apparatus sales, with particular expertise in the California market. This, coupled with the robust Seagrave service centers of Fire Apparatus Solutions, SoCal Fleet, West Coast Frame, and West-Mark, encompasses the entire state of California. Customers can be confident that a qualified Seagrave representative is close by to serve their needs during and after the sale.

“Seagrave is committed to making it possible for fire departments to serve their communities with the safest and highest quality equipment available,” said Seagrave Chairman & CEO AJ Neiner.

FWD Seagrave designs, engineers and builds its own aerial apparatus and custom chassis in a variety of models to meet the significant demands of a diverse customer base. Products include: custom chassis, pumpers, tankers, rescues, hazmat, aerials, tractor-drawn aerials, platforms, Aerialscopes, and commercial wildland and brush trucks. Belmont Fire Protection District’s new 1500 GPM Pumper is an example of FWD Seagrave’s best-selling Marauder II.

Seagrave also has a significant refurbishment business including the capability to re-chassis and rebuild aerial units, restoring them, operationally, to better than original. Hayward Fire Department in California recently took delivery of a refurbished Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) vehicle for use in responding to Hayward Executive Airport (HWD), a key airport for San Francisco Bay area business and events.

“Seagrave quality provides a high lifetime value,” concluded Neiner. “Safety, durability and longevity translate to low maintenance costs and a low cost of ownership over the lifetime of a Seagrave fire truck that can last 20+ years, and this has been proven in the most demanding fire departments in the Nation.”

Seagrave, founded by Fredric Seagrave in Detroit in 1881, is the oldest manufacturer of fire apparatus in the United States. Otto Zachow and William Besserdich founded FWD Corporation in Clintonville, Wisconsin, in 1909. It became a premier manufacturer of severe-duty vehicles and produced America’s first all-wheel drive vehicle. In 1963, FWD and Seagrave merged and consolidated all operations to Clintonville, Wisconsin. FWD Seagrave has a longstanding tradition of excellence providing the safest, longest service life, and most durable heavy-duty vehicles to the U.S. Military and municipal governments.

More: www.fwdseagrave.com

On his way up 69 flights of stairs, Eastside Fire and Rescue firefighter Nick Holmes would give high-fives to the children pictured in posters hung on each floor. “It’s not customary,” he said Saturday in front of the Sammamish Safeway fundraising for the March 6 “Climb for the Cure” competition where firefighters in full gear, between 50-70 pounds, are challenged to climb more than 1,300 steps to reach the observation deck of Seattle’s Columbia Center March 6.
- PUB DATE: 2/17/2016 1:32:51 PM - SOURCE: Issaquah & Summamish Reporter