Second fire station on horizon for Coal City

Comments (...)

A member of the Coal City Fire Department poses behind a fire truck at the site of what will be Coal City's second fire station. Located along Berta Road, the station will provide ready access to the east side of the community, even if a freight train is on its way through town. (Herald Photo by Jo Ann Hustis)

E-mail this story

Print this story

Comments

Share

COAL CITY – Today’s beanfield is the site of tomorrow’s $2.3 million fire station east of the BNSF railroad tracks on Berta Road.

Construction on the auxiliary station will start as soon as the village issues the building permit, Coal City Fire Chief Harold Holsinger noted.

“We have a few things to iron out yet between the city’s engineering company and the Claypool Drainage District,” he said. “Then we’re anxious to get it going, because we want to get it up and closed in by the time the snow flies. Hopefully we’ll get it closed in by the first of December.”

The Coal City Village Council this week unanimously approved the conditional use permit for the construction. No one in the audience voiced objection to the project. The village’s Planning and Zoning Board earlier this month gave the proposal its unanimous support.

“There were residents who spoke of their concern regarding the project at (the P&Z) public hearing, but they were not opposed to it,” Village Administrator Matt Fritz told the council Monday evening.

Holsinger indicated  the concerns involved lighting and noise. This is because the station is going in an area zoned RS-2 residential, and homeowners were concerned about lights from the station shining in their windows all hours of the night.

Although noise will be associated with the departure and arrival of emergency vehicles, state statute mandates minimal disturbance except when the use of sirens is necessary.

“When you’re in the middle or a residential area, you need to blend in with those people,” Holsinger said. “You want to be a good neighbor, and we’ve certainly strived to be that here as well as to be that out there.”

The beanfield is at 1455 S. Berta Road. The main fire station, which the auxiliary station is not replacing, is at 35 S. DeWitt Place, just south of Illinois 113, on the west side of the village.

"It's a satellite station," Holsinger said. "We're not building a new station and moving out of this one. We're building a new station on the other side of the railroad tracks, basically."

A survey by the area Fire Chiefs Association indicates railroad traffic is down somewhat at present because of the economy. Before the downswing began, though, 86 to 88 freight trains rolled through Coal City daily. The tracks bisect the village.

Though gewer in number, perhaps, the individual trains are becoming longer.

"It's not uncommon to see four engines pulling and two engines push a train through town," Holsinger said. "The BNSF told me they successfully took a 10,0000-foot-0long train from Chicago to Los Angeles. That's a mile and three-quarters long — a lot of cars."

The P&Z public hearing on Monday, June 15, was required by ordinance because the station is a public use. The project is not new to residents.

“They’ve known for a couple years we’re going this way,” Holsinger said. “I don’t recall anybody ever coming up to me and saying, ‘Hey, we don’t need this.’

“We try to provide people with the best possible service we can. For the most part, I think people agree with that.”

The five-acre beanfield site will provide space for a three-bay station and living quarters for firefighter paramedics and staff. Included will be sleeping quarters, a kitchen and a day room area, training room and communications room.

When finished, the new station will be home to an ambulance and one fire engine. A brush truck may park there in the summer and fall seasons.

Overall impact from the facility will be low, based on the current volume and plans to utilize the station for half of the 1,000 calls the fire district receives annually.

"About 40 to 42 percent of our calls are on the south side of the railroad tracks," Holsinger said. "This station will service everything on the opposite side, which will include Diamond."

The station was positioned based on mapping. The property was purchased from the Coal City School District. The fire district has applied for federal stimulus and state funding, and has gone out for bids to determine construction costs. Holsinger said the fire district has some funding in its account, and will not sell bonds to help finance the project.

"We're estimating it at about $2.3 million," Holsinger said. "The cost of furnishings and other stuff will be on top of that. We don't have an estimate on that yet, but we're going to try and do that internally to save ourselves some money by keeping a third party out of it."

The Coal City Fire Protection District covers a little more than 54 square miles, and includes Diamond, Carbon Hill, and Goose Lake Township in its coverage area. The district extends from Grand Ridge Road on the south to the Illinois River on the north, from Higgins Road on the west, to the Will County Line Road on the east.

"Quite a bit of territory," Holsinger noted.




 

Comments