According to a report from Journal-News, West Chester Township (OH) trustees approved an additional $40,000 funding to temporarily lease a space while the construction of the new Fire Station 73 continues. The total cost for the lease is now $121,593.

Township Administrator Larry Burks said last week that the township originally signed a one-year lease, from October 2019 through September 2020, with a month-to-month option after that period.

The estimated cost to raze the 50-year-old station on Duff Drive and build a new one was $3.5 million, with a budget of $3.7 million. The township received about a dozen bids and awarded a contract to Graybach LLC for $3.1 million, with contingencies the trustees approved up to $3.4 million about a year ago.

West Chester Fire Chief Rick Prinz said officials are hopeful the department can move into the new station in August or September, but the amount the trustees approved will take them through November in the temporary space. He said the start of construction was delayed, and they broke ground last June.

Prinz has said there were safety concerns with the existing station such as the location of turnout gear storage, which was in cages next to the Quint fire truck, making it difficult to get things in and out of the truck as well as the proximity to the fumes from the vehicles and sunlight that streams through the open bays, which degrading the fabric, made the equipment potentially unsafe, and exposed members to contaminants that can cause cancer.

The post West Chester (OH) Fire Department Extends Stay in Temporary Station, Awaits Opening of New Home appeared first on Fire Apparatus.

According to a report from Your Sun, a new fire/police dual-purpose facility and a special exhibit featuring a restored 1946 Seagrave Open Cab Pumper will be two of the main attractions when the new Wellen Park public safety building opens within the next year.

The $13 million, 24-000-square-foot police and fire substation will feature a four-bay fire station as well as separate spaces for police crews, fire inspectors, and a fire prevention bureau. Sarasota County will also house emergency equipment there.

In the next decade, North Port will open more firehouses and add to its 130-person roster.

When the substation finally goes into service, the vintage Seagrave fire truck will be on display in a side room. Purchased in May 2013 by the North Port Honor Guard, the vehicle will be illuminated at night as a sort of welcoming symbol to North Port. Fully restored, but featuring bench seating for parades and memorials, it will eventually be able to demo its original functions when it’s ready to go on display.

Richard Yarnall, commander with the North Port Honor Guard spotting the vehicle in a backyard, faded to pink, and decades past its prime. Its North Port owner wanted the pumper restored. Yarnall and his associates convinced the man to sell the pumper to them for $1,500, and then donated it to the city.

The Model 170 pumping engine, which was delivered in July 1945 to a fire unit in Drew, Mississippi, was then restored by PRIDE Enterprises, a not-for-profit corporation providing trade skills to prisoners in 20 state correctional units since 1981. Inmates with a heavy equipment division stripped the pumper, restored its frame and body and tooled parts as needed, which took two years. The $40,000 restoration fee came from Honor Guard fundraisers and the city.

It was an eight-year process to restore the Seagrave pumper, which was sold in 1945 by Harry Corneil from his office at the Robert E. Lee Hotel in Jackson, Mississippi, and to find it a secure home for public viewing in Wellen Park.

The post Vintage North Port (FL) Pumper to Go on Display, Fire/Police Station to Open at Wellen Park appeared first on Fire Apparatus.

According to a report from The Eagle Post, Oak Grove (KY) Mayor Theresa Jarvis announced at the city council’s meeting Tuesday night that she had received and forwarded the design drawings to the council for the proposed new fire station.

Jarvis also said that Oak Grove Fire Chief Bill Johnson will now speak the architect, Lyle—Cook—Martin Architects, regarding changes, additions, and removals of things proposed in the design before moving forward.

However, Council Member Jean Leavell quickly interjected that she believed the cost of the plan was greater than what was expected.

Johnson, who attended the meeting over Zoom, said he had some reservations and changes regarding the plan, but he had yet to speak with the architectural firm.

Jarvis added that there was still enough time and room to change the plans to fit what the city wants and within its budget. The council nor the mayor shared with the cost of the new station in light of the new drawings.

Jarvis also said the city is still waiting on the state to remove the current fire station to widen KY-911, but the city has not received an update on when exactly that will start to take place.

The post Oak Grove (KY) City Council Receives Designs for New Fire Station appeared first on Fire Apparatus.

Crockery Township Fire Department improvements help better serve area residents

Becky Vargo, Grand Haven Tribune, Mich.

(MCT)

Feb. 3—NUNICA — Changes made over the past year at the Crockery Township Fire Department are helping firefighters more efficiently serve area residents, according to Chief John Kriger.

The improvements include a 90-by-50-foot addition to the station, which was originally built at the corner of Cleveland Street and 112th Avenue in 2003.

This allowed the department to house all of its equipment in one building.

Kriger said the addition was put in use when it was completed almost a year ago, with plans to show it off to the public during the Fire Prevention Week open in house in October 2020. But that did not happen because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The just over $600,000 project included adding four bays to the fire station, demolishing the old building and repaving the entire parking lot, according to Township Treasurer Judy VanBemelen.

The parking lot needed to be done many years ago, she said.

Part of the project was to add a fire suppression system to the entire building, something that was required because of the additional square footage, Kriger said.

Funds for the project came primarily out of the combined operations and capital expenditures millage approved by the residents in 2014.

Kriger said that the old building, constructed around 1972 to house township offices, the township library and the fire department, had too many issues that needed repairing for it to continue to be used by the fire department or the township.

The township moved its offices and library to the former Nunica School in the mid-1980s and the older building was used entirely by the fire department.

“The old building was starting to fall apart,” Kriger said. “We kept it maintained as much as possible, but it was getting hard to maintain without spending lots of money.”

“Firefighters had to come in here to get their equipment,” Kriger said pointing to one side of the building. “Then they had to run over there and manually open the garage doors to get the tr