The first signs of a new fire substation in Cascadia should be apparent soon.
The Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District is preparing to start site work on the property, located on land donated by Cascade Timber Consulting near Triple T Studs.
A new substation was planned as one of the new Fire District’s priorities prior to its creation in November by area voters.
At this point, the Fire District has obtained a permit to site a septic tank on the property. Last week, the district recorded the deed to the 1.96-acre property and had an Oregon Department of Transportation official looking at the access to Highway 20.
Site work is out for bids right now. Site work will include grading property and access to the highway. CTC is preparing the hole for the septic tank at no cost and removing debris.
The Fire District is attempting to tap a couple of different resources for funding the project, Fire Chief Mike Beaver said. The district received a $1,800 grant for the project and applied for a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“We are going to be using donated materials and volunteer help,” Chief Beaver said. That’s how work on the Crawfordsville substation was completed. The district also will address funding for it in its budget.
“It’s a priority for us to get that thing built,” Chief Beaver said. Until it’s complete, there’s no place for the Fire District to put any apparatus at Cascadia.
“As we said in the past, it’ll probably sometime in the next three years,” Fire District President Don Hopkins said. “Cost is going to be dependent on materials donated and the amount of labor.”
The district plans to use the same plans as the Crawfordsville Substation, 2,400 square feet, with three bays and a kitchen and restroom area.
Hopkins believes that the former rural fire district spent between $36,000 and $38,000 in actual expenditures on that project with at least an equal amount of donations. The substation has a replacement value of $100,000.
“I’m just not sure how much free labor we’re going to get out of the Cascadia area,” Hopkins said.
The Fire District has eight volunteers from Cascadia.
“That’s a good-sized gorup, and they’ve been very dedicated,” Chief Beaver said. Those volunteers have been attending EMS and rescue drills, both important for the area. If there were an accident at milepost 45, for example, the Cascadia volunteers are 15 minutes closer than Sweet Home firefighters. That 15 minutes cold mean life or death for the victim of an accident.