Tim Darland, Fire Chief
High Prairie Fire District #14
Fire Commissioners, Fire Chiefs, land donors, secretaries, and volunteers started the project of building a fire station on Schilling Road in 2003 with a vision to provide fire protection service for residences outside the 5-mile radius of the old Centerville Fire Station. Building the new Community Center/Fire Station on Struck Road (constructed in 2009) detracted from the Schilling Road Fire Station Project for several years.
In 2017, the HPFD put in an application to the state requesting $448,000 for the new Schilling Road Fire Station. We were told we were on the list of projects that had successfully passed the House and Senate, so we were disappointed when Governor Jay Inslee hadn’t signed the 2017 capital budget into law by the end of 2017. Representative Gina McCabe’s assistant promised to resubmit our 2017 Schilling Road Fire Station request. As luck was on our side, though, Governor Inslee signed the 2017 capital budget into law in mid-January 2018, which included appropriated dollars to build the Schilling Road Fire Station Project. I say luck, but I am here to tell you that many folks have worked very hard to help HPFD plan and secure the land and funds for the station. Arlen and Sharon Aleckson were instrumental in lobbying efforts on behalf of the community to help secure the funds. Department personnel also spent many hundreds of hours to prepare documentation which included several permit applications, request for funds applications, feasibility studies, building specs, drawings, and Conditional Use Permit, to name a few items.
Where do we go from here? The Department of Commerce (DOC) will distribute the funds to HPFD once we submit a final budget and appropriate documentation. The DOC charges to administer the state funds, so essentially we will have a total dollar amount of $434,000 to build the Schilling Road Fire Station. The Fire Commissioners and Department Officers have spent several days revising building specs and drawings over the last month. The request for contractor bids will be distributed out through local and regional newspapers as well as advertising on a national list called Commerce Business Daily. We are going for the widest dissemination possible.
Once bids are received by April 17, 2018 (April Commissioners meeting), we can complete a firm budget to submit to the DOC. It will take approximately 4 weeks to draw up a contract between the DOC and HPFD. After that contract is received, the HPFD can award a building contract. The HPFD has every intention of building the Schilling Road Fire Station during 2018.
Mt. Hood from Hartland Road. Photo: Peg Caliendo