'Hopeful for a new home'

OSBURN — This sentence is how Shoshone County Fire District No. 1 (SCFD1) begins their pitch to the citizens of the Silver Valley on their website.

Since the District’s last attempt to get a new firehouse was rejected by the voters in 2015 (arguably due to many believing the proposed building was too grandiose), SCFD1 says they have gone back to the drawing board in an attempt to design a new simpler building that will not only fulfill their needs- but also not break the bank of the tax payers.

Paid for by a proposed bond to be voted on the Nov. 7 ballot, SCDF1 explains that “the new building would be multi-purpose, will include a Community Room for public use, and will be called the Fire and Emergency Services Facility.”

If passed on election day, the new house would be built on land already owned by SCFD1 at 58738 Silver Valley Road in Osburn, less than a mile from the current station.

In an interview with the Shoshone News-Press, Aaron Cagle, SCFD1 fire chief, explained that the District’s push for this new house is motivated by their desire to better serve the community.

“Above and beyond our feelings and what we think, we are a group of people who dedicated our lives to being public servants,” he said, “and in that interest we want to give the best service possible to the people of Shoshone County — the Silver Valley, specifically — to make sure that in their time of need we respond with top notch care and equipment.”

Diving into the specifics, Cagle made it clear that one of the top reasons for them wanting the new house is having one place to store all of their fire engines and trucks.

“Having all of our vehicles centralized in one location is the easy answer,” he said.

According to Cagle, having this centralized place will “help with response times” and their “mission of saving lives and protecting property.”

Currently, SCFD1 has vehicles spread out all over the Eastern part of the Silver Valley in Wallace, Gem, and Mullan due to limited spacing at the current firehouse in Osburn.

Cagle believes that this is incredibly inefficient because in an event where all vehicles are needed, crews must to drive to these locations first to retrieve them and then respond.

This is on top of the fact that they still are forced to keep vehicles outside.

Cagle said that “as most people who drive by (the current firehouse) will notice, there’s usually at least one vehicle sitting outside in the weather.”

He added that this can cause the vehicles, which are paid for by the taxpayers, to degrade more quickly and reduce service life.

Not only will the new firehouse solve these problems, Charlotte Binkoski, SCFD1 firefighter said, but it will also give the District more opportunities to bring in money and set up programs.

“We are missing out on grant opportunities because of the size our (current) station.”

Using the fire engine next to her in the interview as an example, she explained that since the current station can not fit a National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) certified engine, the District had to buy the smaller-than-normal one they currently have back in 2013 with no help from NFPA grant funding.

She added that a new station (and in-turn, more space) also opens the door to bring in other opportunities such as a grant funded car seat safety program.

As for why SCFD1 is choosing now to push for a new house, John Miller, SCFD1 firefighter, said that it’s all about saving money.

“We are looking at this moment of time right now, because…what we have been told by our architect, this is the last time we can get it under $2 million.”

In the failed 2015 proposal, that house called for $2.2 million.

This new purposed firehouse comes in at $1.9 million.

Millers said that part of the reason for the cheaper price now is due to “cutting away” several things from the old design that may have come across to the voters as ‘not a necessity.’

“We got rid of all the fancy stuff and we are leaving a portion of it unfinished, that way we will finish it when it is built to help save money.”

At the end of the day, the question that many voters may care about the most though is “how much is this going to cost me?”

SCFD1 reports on their website that the highest possible cost breakdown per $50,000 of assessed value, before grants is $46.64 a year or $3.89 a month.

The proposed increase would be felt by those who reside in the boundaries of SCFD1.

This includes (but is not limited to) the residents of Osburn, Silverton, Wallace, and other outlying areas near the aforementioned cities.

Wallace residents may notice on election day that they cannot vote for or against this bond.

This is due to the city not being in SCFD1, but they do contract with them for services.

SCFD1 would like to invite anyone who has questions or concerns to the current firehouse, located at 921 E Mullan Avenue in Osburn, on Thursday, Oct. 26 for an informative open house from 4 to 7 p.m.