The Clovis Fire Department Fire Chief John Binaski was in attendance at the city council meeting on Monday, Oct. 5. He spoke about the items which included two grants that the fire department received last month.
Binaski also spoke about Fire Station 2 located on 2300 Minnewawa Ave. which is in need of repairs.
The first grant Binaski talked about was the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant. This will cover the hiring of nine firefighters for three years which will be used to staff the new Fire Station 6.
Binaski said that they didn’t expect to get the full grant, however they actually received the full amount for $3,989,655. This is the largest grant the fire department has ever received and will now be able to bring those nine personnel earlier than expected.
“My team did a great job, we reviewed every aspect of that grant over and over and over…it really helps when you’re accredited and you can show the need,” Binaski said. “We were fortunate to get the grant.”
The nine firefighters will be brought in by April of 2021 and the new station six will be fully staffed by the end of 2021 and will open in January of 2022. The council voted unanimously to accept the grant and move forward with the hiring.
Next on the agenda was the acceptance of another grant received by the fire department from the Assistance to Firefighter Grant (AFG). This grant will help with the purchase of a Source Capture Extraction System (SCES) for city fire stations.
This grant gives the department $144,147.27 to upgrade their SCES which takes out any contaminants left behind by diesel engine fumes. Binaski mentioned that they were already budgeting to replace three of the systems because of their age, but that this will help all the stations.
The grant has to be matched by the city for the amount of 10 percent of the cost, which will leave the city with a price tag of over $14,000. However, Binaski said that since they were already budgeting to replace the systems that the amount is only partial to what they were going to pay.
Council voted unanimously to accept the grant and give the department the equipment it needed.
The last item discussed by Chief Binaski was the status of station 2 which is in need of repairs. The station which is located on Minnewawa Avenue near Shaw Avenue has been utilized for over 40 years and the building now requires significant repairs, updates and modernizations.
Binaski mentioned that during recent electrical repairs there were several trusses found to be broken. Binaski said that after discussing it with the city manager they hire an engineering firm to look at the building.
After two on site inspections Binaski was given a long list of repairs needed for the station to be safe and operational for the next five years. Binaski said that all of the trusses needed to be replaced or reinforced, along with the roofing tiles and several other walls in the living area.
The firm found that even with those repairs it was estimated that it would only be about five years before other major renovations needed to be made.
Binaski went on to show several photos of the damaged trusses, damaged walls and several broken ceiling tiles. He said that an estimate of the repairs would come out to be around $500,000 and that’s only for repairs. Binaski said that this amount did not include any upgrades to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
“That (amount) is just to fix as few of the items to keep the station operational,” Binaski said. “I don’t trust this station.”
Another option they have is to build a structure at the training center which will serve as a temporary station until a new one can be built. That plan is estimated to cost between $750,000 to $1 million.
The cost of a new station is between $8 million and $9 million which was based on the cost of building Fire Station 6. Binaski said that the good news is that the station is in a great location and will be operational for 30 to 40 years without needing any major repairs.
Councilmember Whalen said that this was the city’s busiest station and that if there is a new station built there he wants it to be high quality.
“Whatever we build there, I just want it to be high quality and suitable for the type of activity coming out of that station.” Whalen said. “We want something nice for the folks in the southwest, this is an opportunity for us to communicate that we value that area.”