SCFD No. 3 to receive ARPA money

WALLACE –– Shoshone County Fire District No. 3 (SCFD3) will receive up to $25,000 from Shoshone County’s $2.5 million allocation of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund program (CSLFRF) authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

Bruce Van Broeke, the chairman of SCFD3’s commission, requested the funds in order to purchase a new generator for the Mullan-based firehouse.

The generator’s primary use will be to pump water into fire trucks – which keeps them operational in the event of some sort of power outage situation.

The generator will have secondary use as well, as it will power the city’s emergency operations center in the event of a mass power outage.

“Mullan has no public entities with auxiliary power to serve as an emergency operation center,” Van Broeke wrote in his application for funding.

The generator could also be used to shelter people in an emergency situation.

“The power plant would give us enough to house evacuees,” Van Broeke wrote. “We’d have radios, internet, and phone service. It is a much-needed piece of equipment.”

Shoshone County Commissioners Jay Huber and John Hansen had very little argument for the request.

The same could be said for the county’s grant administrator Colleen Rosson, who explained that while most new fire stations are built with these auxiliary power sources, an aging building like the Mullan Fire House likely does not and that she supports making sure that people have access to generators and power in emergency situations.

With this approval, it brings the total dollar amount spent by the county to $1,425,075 of that $2.5 million allocation – with SCFD3 joining the City of Kellogg, Clarkia Water and Sewer, East Shoshone County Water District, Murray Historical Society, City of Osburn, Shoshone County Crisis Resource Center, SCFD1, and Shoshone County Solid Waste Department as grantees.

The county is still taking grant request applications.

For more information or to request a project proposal form, email Colleen Rosson at crosson@co.shoshone.id.us.