The Daily News

Wahpeton is revamping its south side fire hall for the first time since the 1970s.

Heitkamp Construction Co., Inc., began construction early in June and anticipates the renovations to be complete by next week.

"The two fire halls will pretty much look the same now," said Lane Wateland, firefighter and city council member. Wateland also assisted Richland County Emergency Manager Brett Lambrecht in writing grants to assist in the cost of modernizing the aged fire hall.

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A 50-50 matching grant from the North Dakota Department of Commerce allocated to Wahpeton $16,167, while a separate grant brought in $12,500.

The city paid approximately $7,000 out of pocket for the improvements, Lambrecht said.

Many of the renovations being made revolve around making the fire hall a more energy efficient structure. Although the roof is in good shape, all the interior walls required new insulation and the outside is receiving a layer of cream colored siding to prevent heat from escaping. Heitkamp Construction completed the siding application Wednesday.

Wahpeton Fire Chief Dale Rubish indicated that during the winter, heating bills hit as high as $2,000 per month.

"We should be able to dramatically reduce that," Rubish said.

Lambrecht estimated the new bills to be approximately one-third less.

Also included in the construction process is the removal of the two smallest garage doors, leaving three drive-thru bays, or six doors total for the fire trucks to maneuver in and out. Removal of the two doors will help to fend off air and water leaks, Wateland said.

A series of rain caps on the siding, on top of the walls, will also be useful to prevent water leaks. In addition, the new fire hall will come equipped with new gutters, downspouts and identical lettering to the north side fire hall.

With the dramatically refurbished community center just blocks away, Rubish said the fire hall renovations help to clean up the neighborhood.

"We've always been noted to keep our equipment looking nice and our fire halls looking nice," Wateland said. "So, staying in the mode of cleaning up dilapidated properties, that's going to give us, I don't know, many years where that building will be in good shape."

Comments

osrenb wrote on Jul 15, 2009 10:39 PM:

" Oh OK that makes sense. "




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fire wrote on Jul 15, 2009 1:20 PM:

" If you read the article the city is only paying about $7000 out of pocket on a $30,000+ project, as several of the firefighters took the time and effort to sit down and write and apply for grant dollars. The dedication of the department members has saved thousands of taxpayer dollars over the years. There is grant dollars available for all sorts of things for fire departments of all sizes, they just have to put forth the effort to sit down and fill out the forms and write a narrative of what they are going to do with the money. "




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RuralResident wrote on Jul 9, 2009 2:13 PM:

" Sad! Look at all of the rural departments that are strictly volunteer that are on the brink of failure because they have no money to opetate and Wahpeton is siding there fire hall because it is expensive to heat! I am glad my tax money goes to the rural departments.... They deserve it! Less political crap and they truly care! But on a posetive note, it looks nice! "




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bcju wrote on Jul 4, 2009 6:53 AM:

" Whos paying for this? I thought the budget was so tight? "




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