Waukon Area Fire Protection District invites community to open house events

In light of recent discussion and consideration of relocation and construction of a new fire station in Waukon, the Waukon Area Fire Protection District is hosting a series of open house events for the general public to witness, first-hand, the issues that have made a new station a matter of consideration.
The Waukon Area Fire Protection District Board of Directors, Fire Officers and firefighters invite everyone to the open house events who is protected by the District, which serves  the city of Waukon, rural townships of Hanover, Union Prairie, Makee and Jefferson, and parts of the rural townships of Waterloo, Ludlow, French Creek, Center, Franklin and Paint Creek.
With the first of those open house events already being held this past Thursday, January 16, a pair of remaining opportunities for the general public have been scheduled for this Saturday, January 25 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon and Tuesday, January 28 from 5 to 8 p.m. The current Waukon Fire Station location at 11 First Avenue NE will be open to the public during those timeframes, with the District’s volunteer firefighters and officers being on hand to provide tours of the current station, answer any questions the general public may have, and explain how the firefighters operate and train to best serve the area they protect.

CAUSE AND EFFECT
First built in 1974, the current fire station in Waukon simply fails to currently meet the District’s needs with the changes in services and protection provided by the District within the past 40 years, and especially in recent years. “We have seen many changes over the last few decades,” Waukon Fire Chief Dave Martin explains. “The equipment has gotten much bigger than in years before and we do many more things than in the past. In addition to fires, we respond to a variety of hazardous materials calls, rescues, confined space operations, extrications, etc. We want you to come and see, first-hand, the many problems that we have in our current facility, with space being the biggest problem.”
With those added duties and the ever-changing landscape of new building structures throughout the area in the past four decades, new and larger equipment has had to be purchased to replace the District’s aging trucks and other firefighting equipment. Those necessary replacements have further led to some recent difficulties of space required to house the vehicles and equipment needed to fulfill the duties of the District’s volunteers, and presented some even more difficult, and costly, decisions having to be made in replacing that equipment.
“In 2012 we applied for a grant that partially covered half the cost to replace the tanker (the District’s newest truck) and had to pay an extra $28,000 to have it shortened so that this new truck would fit inside the current station,” Chief Martin explained. “Then came the time to replace the 31-year-old frontline pumper, and we were looking at the same problem. We opted to order the same size as the other pumper truck because we could not get one as short as the current truck, and the cost was again significant. So, we now need to work to take care of the space issue that has been escalating very fast in the last five years.”

OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED
With the District’s need for added space presenting itself over the past several years, the option of relocation and building a new fire station has not been the first solution considered, but has been deemed as one of the best available options remaining. Chief Martin further explained that expansion in all directions around the current station location has been thoroughly researched, only to present greater, and in most cases impossible, challenges that prevent such an expansion.
An initial non-interest by the adjacent property owner to the west of the current station to sell that property was further complicated by the street grade in front of that adjacent property and the requirement of having to relocate the high voltage power lines that currently sit in front of those two adjacent locations. A look to the east and south also presented further obstacles, as city storm sewer, as well as gas and electricity utilities, are located in that area and would have to be relocated at an additional significant cost.
“With making every effort to try and make an expansion work, we came to the realization that we needed to have an architect firm look to see if we were missing anything that would make this work and be the most cost effective for everyone,” Martin reasoned. “When the architects came and did the evaluation, they also stated that with all the problems on the east and west sides, and taking into consideration the fact that the old building still had to be brought up to code and we would still have a parking issue for responding firefighters, they felt that trying to stay here would cost more than it would be worth and still not be able to fix all the problems.”
Anyone interested in learning more about the Waukon Area Fire Protection District’s current fire station shortcomings and the District’s efforts to resolve those issues in the best possible interest of all affected is encouraged to attend one of the two remaining open house sessions listed above. “We want you to come and see what we have done in the past year to try to make an addition work,” Chief Martin said. “We are looking for the most viable option to best serve this community so that when you need us we can respond in the shortest amount of time, because seconds count.”