Fire department does repairs, needs plan for future
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From cracked pavement to leaky roofs and a new laundry facility, the City of Dunkirk Fire Department has recently undertaken some much-needed repairs and upgrades. However, the Police and Fire Departments would like a long-term plan in place for both of their facility struggles.
At the recent Public Safety Committee meeting, Fire Chief Mike Edwards reported some repairs have been made to Fire Headquarters and station 3.
"We have had some progress on some much-needed repairs and some upgrades of stuff that needed to be done regardless of what the long-term plans were. At fire headquarters, the mayor has been very concerned with addressing major needs. We've spoken about it several times, so some of it has been done recently. We got a new concrete pad poured at headquarters. It was an absolute mess in front of there; it had to be done before the winter came. It was bad. With that, parts of the sidewalk were replaced by headquarters on Eagle Street," he said. "Two major improvements that have been done was approved through council were the roof upgrades. That had to be done; there was water pouring into the fire station. I'm happy to report Station 3 is nearly completed. The actual roof work is done, there's some masonry work that has to be done before they button it up. At headquarters, we're in the process of that and it'll be done within the next couple of weeks. Those things have been done."
Edwards also reported on a health and safety upgrade that has been undertaken at minimal cost, including a laundry room with appliances donated by the Local 616 and fixtures installed in-house by the city's electrical and plumber. The department also received a grant for a special washer.
"We got a FEMA grant for an industrial-sized, they call it an extractor, it's just a big washer. It's a unit that's used to wash firefighter turnout gear so that gear cannot just be washed in a washing machine, it's a specialized way that it has to be washed so that it doesn't wash out the material and the chemicals that are used to protect that gear.
"Now it is standard that we have to continually clean that gear because studies have found that the byproducts of fire and smoke that linger on firefighters' gear are carcinogens. The cancer rate for firefighters is a lot higher than a regular person, so these regulations are starting to come out. To help safety-wise, we wanted to get ahead of that and we got the FEMA grant for that. We have a drying cabinet coming with it, so I believe the total grant was $39,000. Our city plumber and electrician came in and got ready wires and the plumbing is ready for when it arrives we'll be able to hook it up," he added.
Committee chair, Fourth Ward Councilwoman Stacy Szukala said she is disappointed that during her time on the board no long-term plans have been made to save for facilities like the fire and police departments.
"One of the things that has bothered me quite a bit since being on council for eight years, going through the ninth budget we're going to be doing, is that it always seems like we just get through another year. There's no five-year plan, no 10-year plan. I know it's easier to say than actually do, but suggestions have been made and some things haven't been followed through or even considered. We spent $30,000 on a study for them to tell us, under the last chief, what our needs were, both immediate and long term," she said. "For me, you never want to be the council member that votes to raise taxes, especially when its for staffing or things that fall through the cracks. But, when you tell the public that we have dilapidated buildings, those are the types of things, although they don't like, they understand. A least for myself, 'Yeah I don't want to see my taxes raised 75 cents, or whatever it may be, but I understand there's no other place we can pull the money and this is a problem that isn't going away.'"
Edwards and Police Chief Dave Ortolano said they are on board with the idea of a shared public safety building, which hangs on the possibility of the county receiving a state consolidation grant. However, they both said repairs to allow for day-to-day operations also have to be taken into account with long-term plans.
"We have to run day-to-day operations until such time that something changes. Even if we were to begin planning today for a new facility, we're still three or four years out to be able to be moving into a new facility. We have to maintain for public safety-wise and the safety of our officers and firefighters and everyone else a decent standard," Ortolano said.
Szukala pointed out if $50,000 was saved for eight years, the city would have a good start at that goal. Councilman-at-Large Andy Woloszyn said there is good news coming out of the audit that will be announced soon and may help with this problem, which he said he did not realize the magnitude of until he was given a tour.
Also discussed was a collaborative recruitment event in the form of a city hall job fair with the ideal time being in April.
The fire department radio upgrade is nearly complete, Edwards reported. The police and fire departments have worked out a creative solution for communication on a call, where the police dispatch desk has one of the fire department's new radios and serves as the point of contact between firefighters and officers.
Harriet "Skeeter" Tower approached the board with the hopes of discussing safety concerns with the proposed Main and Sixth Street play area project. Ortolano said his main objection is to any structure that encourages children to cross the street at that busy intersection. A meeting was set up for Tower to discuss this further with Ortolano and Szukala.