Shovel-Ready
Are you ready to break ground on your next fire station? If so, prepare to apply for some of the $210 million allocated for fire stations in the new stimulus package. If not, there’s still time to get your new fire station shovel-ready.
The economic stimulus package signed into law this week by President Obama generated a lot of interest from fire chiefs and city managers in need of new fire stations or facilities for emergency response. While the amount is down from the initial $500 million requested for construction of new fire stations, $210 million can make a difference to a number of communities.
According to Barry Kasinitz, director of government affairs for the International Association of Fire Fighters, the term “shovel-ready” came from the list of projects the U.S. Conference of Mayors proposed to congressional leaders. On that list of education and public-service projects that were ready to start was new fire stations. The IAFF, with strong ties to the Democratic party, proposed including fire stations, as well as a waiver of the matching requirements for Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grants.
The IAFF and the International of Fire Chiefs Association sent joint letters to congressional leaders to request stimulus money for the fire service. The IAFF requested funds for fire station construction for two reasons. First, by improving fire stations, the fund will protect the health and safety of firefighters and enhance emergency response capabilities. Second, the new construction will create thousands of good-paying jobs that will help boost the local economy.
“This funding will provide immediate aid to struggling communities, but even more importantly, it will be critical to helping jumpstart our ailing economy,” said IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger said.
The stimulus funds will be distributed by the Department of Homeland Security and through the FIRE Act Grants, but details of how the money will be disbursed has yet to be determined. “Everything with the stimulus money is still being sorted out,” said Kasinitz.
“Given the cost of facilities and spread across the country, how far will that money go?” asked Brian Harris, AIA, LEED AP, of Seattle’s TCA Architecture Planning.
The stimulus package for fire stations has a price cap on fire stations of $15 million. Of the 71 entries in FIRE CHIEF’s 2008 Station Style Design Awards one fire station in New York was $9 million and several fire stations (most in California) were $7 million. The average price was around $3 million for career and combination stations and even less amount for volunteer fire stations. (These numbers exclude regional training facilities.)
“There’s an expectation of urban services, but when you look at third- or second-world countries, what’s adequate or inadequate varies by area,” Harris said. “The $210 million could have quite an impact on a lot of small departments.”
FireChief.com will include more information on fund distribution as it becomes available. The 2009 Station Style Conference also will feature a speaker discussing the stimulus package distribution process for fire stations. The conference will be held May 3–5 in Denver.
Harris said now is an excellent time to build. “The timing if good because construction costs are deeply discounted — 25% — and what’s driving that is labor costs and common items such as wood, concrete have really come down and ready-made products are fairly stable,” he said.
Money or not, now is the time to do the research on building your next fire station or facility. You never know when long-range planning becomes immediate.
February 25th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Our fire house burned down about a year and a half ago, we have been trying our hardest just to get the ball rolling with the new deveolpment of our fire house. We have only recieved money from the insurance claim and donations from residents in the area. I would like to find out more about this stimulous plan that Presient Obama has signed and if we are eligible.
February 26th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
The City of Concord has a Shovel Ready Fire Station to be built. We have applied for USDA Funding, but it would benefit our small town and community if we could apply for some of the stimulas monies concerning Fire Stations. The station we were planning to build had to be cut down due to funding. It would be nice if we could build the orginal station with all the benefits for our firefighters and EMS personnel. How can we apply for this particular program? Original cost of our station was 513.000 dollars, and we have cut that amount to around 450.000. Bays for vehicles had to be reduced, rooms for sleeping quarter cut and Office space. Again, could or would it be possible for our little town to get some of the Stimulas package?
April 7th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
We are a 5.5 square mile unincorporated area in the northern part of the state where funding for fire protection is very limited. We would like to remodel some buildings on property we are possibly obtaining from our local county commissioners. We would like the opportunity to obtain some of the stimulus monies for this project. We are the funding source for our Volunteer Fire Department and have been accumulating some monies for this project but because of shortfall of tax dollars it will take a long time to accomplish this goal. If there is any way we could obtain around $200,000.00 it would be a great help for our lower income area and our community would be so grateful. Please let me know of when, how, where to apply for some financial help from the stimulus monies available.
December 13th, 2009 at 1:04 am
We are a very small voulnteer fire department, our only funding is 3,500.00 dollars that we get from the county every year and limited donations from local land owners. We currently house our trucks in a two bay buliding and a smaller buliding that belongs to the city. We are looking into buliding a new station were we can keep all of the trucks in the same buliding, and have our meetings there as well. When we have to work on a truck it is done mainly out side cause our bulidings arent big enough to work on the trucks inside. Is there any stimulus monies left to apply for and if so were do we go to apply.
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