Voters in the Westville Area Fire Protection District will be voting in November on a new $2.5 million dollar bond issue. Fire Chief Mark Ames says money generated by the bonds would be used to expand Westville’s fire station….
{AUDIO: “What we’ve done is we’ve hired an architect firm to design an addition to the fire station and renovations to the existing building, which was built in 1957. The equipment’s all much larger than it used to be and we’re busting at the seams.”}
Chief Ames says the proposed expansion of Westville’s fire station is something that has been discussed for years….
{AUDIO: “As you well know, we don’t have a classroom. If we want to teach a class, we have to pull our rigs out (and) set up tables and chairs, (to) do our class here on the apparatus bay floor. And in the wintertime, that’s challenging because we have temperature issues for our trucks with water in them. This building will have a classroom in it (with) seating for all our members, among all the other amenities that will improve our operating capabilities.”}
Ames noted the size of fire trucks these days makes things challenging if snow piles up….
{AUDIO: “The frontline engine is nine-foot-eleven going out a ten-foot door. So, if you can imagine that snow buildup – we can’t have any of it for about six or eight feet in front of the bay. So, those are challenges that we have to overcome. As you well know, the trucks were much smaller in the early days of our district existence – and they’ve done nothing but grow.”}
If voters approve, a new 9-thousand square foot addition will be built on the east side of Westville’s existing fire station.
