Fire Study Recommends 5 Fire Hall Closures

DUBOIS – The Department of Community and Economic Development has returned with their results on the consolidated city’s fire study, recommending that 5 locations ultimately close.

According to the study, only five fire stations should remain open, with a new station planned for Treasure Lake. Here’s the breakdown:

Fourth Ward Hose Co. (250 S Brady Street), North Point Fire Co. (145 Tower Center Circle), and J.E. DuBois Hose Co. (301 First Street) will stay open.
West Sandy Fire Co. (15 Forest Avenue) faces closure, with its services merging into a new station near both it and 12 S Main Street.
Goodwill Hose Co. (418 S State) is closing, and its duties will be transferred to 250 S Brady Street.
Oklahoma Civilian Defense Fire (1257 Chestnut Avenue) will be rebuilt as the city’s primary fire station and training hub.
Du Bois Fire Second Ward Hose (33 E Park Avenue) is closing and merging into the new 1257 Chestnut station.
Friendship Hose Co. (12 S Main Street) will close, along with another station, and a new building will be constructed for the merged services.

Fire crews that we spoke to expressed shock, but also acknowledged the recommendations given. Understanding that in the end, the stations will need to work together to protect the community.

At this time the DCED representatives say this is only a suggestion, and the consolidation committee may take any actions that they see fit.

You can watch the full fire study presentation on tri-county.tv

More notes from the study is below:

The Department of Community and Economic Development representatives stressed this was an independent study and purely a recommendation. It will be on the community’s elected officials to decide how much, if any, of the results to implement. The primary presenters were J. Levi Hipps and Daniel P. Wauthier.

· The first recommendation was to merge all nine of the departments into a single entity. There would be a new officer structure, the elimination of term limits for the officers, and all property and equipment belonging to the Sandy Township independent fire departments will be transferred to the City of DuBois’ ownership.

· In the presentation each current station was referred to only by their address. Wauthier stated that the stripping of each station’s name and using an address will be a move towards building cohesion as a single department over being nine separate departments.

Oklahoma Fire Station would become the central station housing officers, training areas, specialized equipment such s air compressors. Other stations could be upgraded, or built, to be “substations”. These would have restrooms, PPE storage, apparatus space, and bunk areas for potentially paid fire department staff.

· The fire study urged the Joint Board to future proof their fire department plans by anticipating a switch from a volunteer fire department to a paid fire department.

· The equipment, vehicles, would be downsized to 19. Currently there are 24 pieces of equipment.

o The five oldest would be sold. These were models from 1989 through 2002.

o Wauthier recommended replacing three of the tanker trucks with smaller single axel tankers build on modified commercial truck chassis.

o Encourage use of more standard vehicles, SUVs, pickup trucks, for transporting personnel when equipment aren’t otherwise needed.

· The leadership structure is recommended to be a fire chief and assistant fire chief who are both elected by the fire department and recognized by the City Council. There would be three geographic focused duty chiefs. These five chiefs would appoint a captain and two lieutenants per station.

· City Councilmember Elliot Gelfand stated consolidation was approved with the expectations of cost savings. With at least two new buildings, it sounded like more costs. Wauthier explained the fire study proposes a lot of up front costs but should see savings in the long terms. Using the two new buildings, Wauthier stated these would be two more energy and heating efficient buildings replacing three outdated buildings.