A two-story stone schoolhouse was built in 1910 at the intersection of Welsh and Church roads in Cumru Township.

The Cedar Top School became the Cedar Top Fire Station in 1957. Subsequent additions have left the station looking "like it's made of Legos," said Jeanne E. Johnston, township manager.

When Cedar Top, Gouglersville and Grill fire companies consolidated into the Cumru Fire Department in 2004, centrally located Cedar Top became the main station. In recent years the township has added more and more patches to the failing roof, which drains poorly and tends to leak into areas between old and less old parts of the station.

Moisture has caused garage doors to rust, creating safety hazards. Part of the foundation of the old schoolhouse has sunk, leaving a visible slant to the roof.

Fire Chief Scott R. Brady said the department needs a new fire station, with construction starting yesterday.

"Why continue to spend a whole lot of money on this building when its days are numbered?" he said.

Township commissioners agree Cedar Top is antiquated, but some are less certain than Brady about what the next step should be.

Last month they approved a line item in the 2016 tentative budget for about $100,000 in preliminary work for a new station, including environmental studies and civil engineering. But they haven't decided on a site for the proposed station.

The process of building a new station would take at least four years, township officials said, during which time more costly Band-Aids for Cedar Top will be required. 

Commissioners want to hear a presentation and learn more about the methodology before proceeding with environmental studies of a specific site next year. 

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The Claremore City Council last week approved a $500,000 loan through RCB Bank to purchase a new $479,725.25 fire engine. The new fire engine is scheduled to replace the current reserve fire engine.

"Our guys did a pretty good job picking out what is best for us. The purchase of a new truck was scheduled two or three years ago, but our shop keeps everything in good shape. This was the first year we were able to keep it budgeted. We did not want to have an engine fail before we could replace it," said Claremore Fire Chief Sean Douglas.

Currently, the Claremore Fire Department has three fire engines in regular use and one fire engine in reserve.

A typical fire engine will serve 15 years in regular use and five years in reserve use. The current reserve fire truck is over 20 years old.

When the new truck is assembled and delivered, it will replace the oldest fire engine in the fleet that is in regular use. The council will be asked to approve the reserve engine, which was bought in 1997, be moved to surplus. The oldest fire engine in the fleet, which was purchased in 2002, will then become the new reserve fire engine.

The new truck will continue a few extra safety features and more storage than previous fire engines. The extra storage will allow for more medical equipment, hoses and tools to be transported.

Douglas will work on making the purchase next week, and will be meeting with both the bank and vendor.

After the truck is purchased it will take about a year for it to be assembled. The Claremore Fire Department is anticipating the new truck will be operational at the end of 2016 or the beginning of 2017.

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A proposal to boost the University of Arkansas’ support for the city’s fire protection will be smaller than hoped, but the Fayetteville fire chief says he appreciates any help dealing with growing service calls and lagging response times.

The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/1OlXg5U) a task force endorsed the university’s plan to contribute money for 10 or 15 years to the city to pay for a new engine or ladder truck.

The proposal goes to the full advisory committee in January, but only after university and elected city officials sign off on the plan would it happen.

The payments would add up to between $600,000 and about $1.6 million, with the amount and years of contribution depending upon which type of vehicles are purchased.

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Most of the city's leadership agrees that something must be done about Hallowell's 186-year-old fire station. But there has yet to be a consensus about what is the best solution.

"I'd say it is smack in the middle of the priorities for the city to address in the coming year," said Stefan Pakulski, Hallowell's city manager. "The fire chief and members of the Fire Department would really like a clear decision made and action taken."

The building includes a turn-of-the-century wooden tower, which leans east, that's used to dry fire hoses. It's one of only a couple towers of its kind left in New England, and the Hallowell Citizens' Initiative Committee, formed in 2013, is hoping to raise enough money to preserve the historic building.

Sandra Stubbs, one of the group's leaders, said the organization has about $40,000 in its coffers; but estimates predict it will cost nearly $500,000 to preserve the tower, add an elevator to meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards and restore the rest of the building. She would love to see the building converted into a museum.

Many problems exist in addition to the leaning tower and neglected rooms of the Second Street building, which was opened in 1829 as a town hall. The city's firetrucks barely fit into the garage and the building just isn't suited to house a modern fire department, Mayor Mark Walker said.

"There was a study done concluding that the fire station is not really suitable for modern fire equipment," Walker said. "We've done our best. We've remodeled and upgraded it, but we can't change its footprint."

Several years ago, repairs were done to the station, and Fire Chief Michael Grant said the repairs would sustain the department for three to five years. Walker said that time is "just about up." He plans to restart a Fire Services Committee to explore all options for the department.

"The committee will look at just what is our preference, and there are many options," Walker said. The group will have to decide whether it makes sense to invest in a bond issue to build a fire station, but it would be hard to justify spending more than $600,000 to house a volunteer fire department, he said.

One of the solutions discussed internally by Walker, Pakulski, Grant and other city leaders is partnering with another local department, including those in Augusta, Farmingdale or Gardiner. Combining services with Augusta, which provides EMS service to the city, or another local community and using Hallowell as a substation would be the ideal solution for many, Walker said.

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