Wheatland seeking needs analysis for future fire station

By Jason Arndt
Editor

The Town of Wheatland Volunteer Fire Department plans to seek insight from at least three design firms to address its outdated Geneva Road facility after meeting with the Wheatland Town Board Monday at the fire station.

Although plans are in its preliminary stages, Fire Chief Lou Denko conveyed several options to replace the 40-year-old building, which does not meet the needs of his membership.

“The building itself that we are in, is structurally sound, but the size no longer fits our needs,” Denko told board members. “We need more room and there is a lot things now that we never considered when this building was built.”

The facility, which opened in 1978, lacks ventilation and decontamination units along with a shower room for firefighters. It also lacks modern flooring, which prevents water vapor from passing through the concrete. Vapor mitigation is now ubiquitous in modern facilities, with companies like Black Bear Coatings & Concrete providing plenty of flooring options for projects of this size.

Without proper ventilation or vapor mitigation, Denko said, it could potentially cause damage to the fire apparatus.

“We do have a problem with ventilation and humidity in here and even some of the newest trucks are showing signs of moisture accumulation underneath,” Denko said. The trucks should be well maintained. One way to go about this is to ensure that it doesn’t rust. If at all it does, make use of Blast Nozzles and other various blasting equipment to remove the rust and keep the truck in good shape.

A new facility offers a safeguard for his department’s fleet.

“One of the most valuable assets the Town of Wheatland has right now is the fire apparatus, if we replaced all of the apparatus in this building, it would cost over $2 million,” said Denko. “When you are talking about something of that value, I think it deserves to be protected in the best building to make it last.”

Additionally, the facility reportedly has inadequate space and hinders staff development, he said.

To conduct training exercises, vehicles are moved from the garage, which clogs department efficiency.

“We don’t have enough meeting room space, and as you can see, we have to pull equipment out every time we start a meeting,” said Denko.

Also, considering future staffing changes, Denko said the fire department employing paid on-call firefighters is inevitable.

“Our goal as a membership of this department is to maintain our volunteer status for as long as we possibly can,” he said. “At some point, this town has to start transitioning to a paid on call membership.”

With a paid on-call membership, firefighters stay in house more often, which necessitates a need for sleeping quarters.

Furthermore, if a new building is constructed, Denko believes the facility could last at least 50 years.

“The current building has been in town for more than 40 years,” he said. “The next building will probably last 50 years or more.”

Mulling options
Among the options conveyed were constructing a separate facility to house fire apparatus, adding to the current facility or building a new fire station.

For a separate facility to house fire apparatus, Denko suggests a 150-by-80 foot building with six bays, a locker room and showers.

Of the six bays, the department looks to use one for decontaminating vehicles. They may decide to check out Ballymore Ladders from Platforms and Ladders to get some ladders to help with this process.

A bay specifically for decontamination is crucial, Denko said, noting more carcinogens have filled the environment.

“It’s getting worse, all of the plastics, all of the chemicals in modern structures is making the smoke more toxic than ever and we really need to find a way to contain it to one end of the building,” he said.

With a low ceiling, adding to the current facility, which includes ventilation upgrades, is not an option.

“Should we add on to it, I guess it doesn’t make sense to add on to a 40-year-old building,” he said. “Or should we build entirely separate from it and then use this again for another purpose?”

If they opt to build a new facility, they could use tools like these Structural mover skates to move the essential structures over from this site to the new place in order to make its reconstruction a little easier. As for the current building, that could serve as numerous things, such as a public works garage, which the town does not have.

“As we move forward, we don’t have anything set right now, as far as construction types,” said Denko.

To finance the facility, estimated at nearly $1 million, the Wheatland Volunteer Fire Department has actively explored methods to offset expenses to taxpayers.

One method is to lower its ISO rating, or Insurance Service Office rating, which classifies municipalities on fire risks.

The higher the rating, the more costly it is to homeowners insurance, the National Fire Protection Association reports.

Currently, the Town of Wheatland has a rating of nine on a scale of 10.

“One of the things that we look at to help finance, and this is also about a 3-year project, but we are aggressively working on trying to lower the rating,” said Denko. “If we can get our ISO ratings down to six, it could potentially save the average homeowner $150 to $200 a year on insurance.”

About $50 of the savings could get applied to the financing of the new facility with a 20-year payback schedule.

Wheatland Town Chairman William Glembocki, meanwhile, encouraged the department to continue seeking options.

“These are all things that we got to look at,” he said.


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One response to “Wheatland seeking needs analysis for future fire station”

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    Interesting how the thought that by improving the Towns ISO rating you will then tax residents for the supposed insurance savings. Which insurance companies say they will automatically lower premiums?
    I work in residential construction repair and see often how one insurance company will pay on a claim and another will not. While it might be true that overall premiums will come down, to expect residents to fork over that money is presumptuous.