Caroline Kubzansky
Chicago Tribune
(TNS)

Park Ridge aldermen gave preliminary approval Feb. 6 to the contractor Cordogan Clark & Associates to run architectural, design and construction management project services for the renovation of Park Ridge Fire Station 35, at Devon and Cumberland Avenues, at a Committee of the Whole meeting.

The price of the contract was $353,949, according to a memo about the contract prepared by city staff. The city had budgeted $300,000 for the item, Finance Director Chris Lipman said. However, that number may be slightly higher than what the project actually costs because the estimate includes contingencies, he said.

The city first issued a request for proposals in November 2022, Lipman told council members.

Lipman said staff was recommending Aurora-based Cordogan Clark for its grasp of the vision for the fire station renovation, its plans to ensure continuity of fire department operations and its inclusion of 200 hours of construction management in its bid.

Cordogan has also worked with the city on safety upgrades to City Hall, but Lipman said that process was “completely separate” from the project at the fire station.

He added that Cordogan Clark had “a pretty good concept of what this is going to look like” and that the company had pointed to a list of 40 prior projects they’d executed where they’d hewed closely to their cost estimates.

“Cordogan clearly had some knowledge of our past estimation of construction projects,” Lipman said.

Park Ridge approved a budget of $5.7 million over the next two years to upgrade the city’s two fire stations, which were built in 1969 and 1970.

Last year, when asked what specifically in Fire Stations 35 and 36 needs work, Park Ridge Fire Department Executive Officer Paul Lisowski told Pioneer Press, “in a nutshell, I would say everything.”

Station 35 is located at 901 Devon Avenue, while Station 36 sits at 1001 N. Greenwood, at the corner of Oakton Street.

Some of the most pressing concerns included accessibility to the fire stations for people with disabilities, protecting firefighters from toxic smoke and improving gender equity in the stations for women who work as firefighters, Lisowski said.

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Some homeowners in Golden Valley might lose their homes in order to make room for a new fire station, kstp.com reported.

The “Fire Station Location Project” would consolidate two of their three current fire stations and build a new one — but w

Nelson Fire and Rescue has the oldest working fire hall in British Columbia but it needs replacing, boundarycreektimes.com reported. The fire hall is 110 years old and does not meet current standards.

Nelson city manager Kevin Cormack told council at a meeting Jan. 31 that the hall, which is known outside the city for being a central location in the 1987 movie Roxanne, can no longer be used by the department, the report said.

He said the city has hired a consultant to look at possible locations for a new fire hall.

Even with extensive renovations, he said, the current fire hall, which was built for horses, would not meet safety standards, and in any event the lot on which it is located is too small for current needs, the report said. He said he cannot speculate on the cost until he sees the consultant report.

Cormack said the consultant is an architect with experience in locating emergency sites in terms of both topography and emergency response times. He said this expertise is especially needed in a town with limited space and a steep landscape.

After the fire hall is replaced, the current building will be treated as a heritage building and another use found for it, Cormack said.

By Brandi Makuski

The Stevens Point Fire Department learned this week that it had won its largest grant ever from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, spmetrowire.com reported.

The department was awarded a $228,750 grant through FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program to cover the costs of an updated batch of Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA), also sometimes referred to as an “air pack.” The devices allow firefighters to breathe on the scene of a fire, protecting their airway and lungs from toxic gases and harmful, cancer-causing particulates.

According to Fire Chief Jb Moody, the city is responsible for covering 10 percent, about $22,875, of costs in accordance with the grant application. The city initially budgeted to replace the SCBAs in 2023 via its capital budget, but now, Moody said the highly-competitive grant funding will loosen up about 60 percent of those anticipated costs.

SPFD took receipt of 35 new MSA-brand SCBAs, each weighing about 16 pounds, in mid-January. The new devices come with a 30-minute, 4,500 psi cylinder, and are lighter, more comfortable, and have longer-lasting, rechargeable batteries.

The department was previously using SCBAs purchased in 2009, also through an AFG grant. The February grant marks the second FEMA award the department has received, although Moody said it’s the largest the SPFD has ever received.

“A lot of people from our department were responsible for this grant application,” Moody said by phone this week. “Our people have put a lot of work into this and it’s paid off.”

Moody added that the grant funding removes a “large burden from the city and taxpayers.”

The new SCBAs are “state-of-the-art,” Moody said, and come with Bluetooth radio communications and “buddy-breathing” capabilities. Each member of the department has their own facepiece.

Th department also purchased two rapid intervention packs for firefighters with air management emergencies on a fire scene.

Moody said its the department’s policy to provide the best equipment available whenever possible.

“A significant component of the ‘best’ equipment is that which is the safest,” Moody said in a Thursday email. “This Federal Emergency Management Assistance to Firefighters Grant program has provided the funding to accomplish just that.”

Sutphen—Fostoria (OH) Fire Department rescue pumper. Monarch cab and chassis; Cummins L9 450-hp engine; Hale Qmax 1,500-gpm pump; UPF Poly 1,000-gallon water tank; Whelen LED warning and scene lights; enclosed pump panel; front bumper discharge. Dealer: Andy Herb, Herb Fire Equipment, Powell, OH.

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