Three Inland Northwest fire districts have construction projects either getting under way or in the design phase.

Northern Lakes Fire District, of Rathdrum, started site preparation at the end of July for a $2 million fire station, at 14000 Highway 53. Ginno Construction Co., of Coeur d'Alene, won a $1.7 million contract to build the station, and Architects West Inc., also of Coeur d'Alene, designed it.

Separately, Kootenai County Fire & Rescue in Post Falls has recently received contractor bids in the range of $127,000 to $151,000 to remodel a newly purchased 6,500-square-foot building at 1590 E. Seltice for administrative offices. In late June, the Kootenai district bought the building, which formerly housed a Coldwell Banker real estate office, and an adjacent lot, for $1.3 million.

Another project in the wings is for Lincoln County Fire District 1 in Sprague, Wash., which has secured $2.1 million in funding toward a new emergency response center to house fire and emergency crews.
The district is seeking another $400,000 in donations but plans to go forward with advanced design work. It expects to seek bids from contractors by the end of this year.

Rathdrum

The nearly 10,000-square-foot Rathdrum station is being built on about 4 acres donated to the district by BNSF Railway Co. It will be located near an existing fire station, built in the 1970s, which the district plans to use for storage after the new station is completed.

Tyler Drechsel, a district fire inspector, says the new facility will have three drive-through bays for a fire engine, an ambulance, a brush truck, and a water tender. It's designed for 24-hour staffing with sleeping quarters for six.

Other spaces will include equipment storage, a decontamination area, training room, kitchen and residential day room, office space, and laundry and bathroom facilities. It also will have extra room to house additional firefighters in the future.

Valerie Knapp, a Northern Lakes executive assistant, says funding for the station includes about $1 million received from the federal government through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The remaining $1 million came from savings that built up after the Rathdrum Rural Fire District and the Hayden Lake Fire District consolidated in 2000 to form the Northern Lakes Fire District, which is now based in Hayden and serves both Hayden and Rathdrum.

Kootenai County Fire & Rescue

Kootenai County Fire & Rescue has had its main operations at 5271 E. Seltice, on a 10-acre campus that includes all administrative, vehicle maintenance, and training functions. Samantha Babich, director of administration, says the district decided that those uses didn't mix well, so it opted to buy an existing building to house its administrative staff separately.

"The original plan was to remodel the current facility, but the cost was pretty significant so our board opted to purchase a building in Post Falls," Babich says.

The district had saved $2 million for capital improvements to go with a proposed $2 million bond last year, to cover a package of district-wide upgrades, but when voters rejected the bond, it sought less expensive options. It is using saved funds toward the building purchase and remodel.

The new administrative offices will be centrally located in Post Falls a little over two miles from the current training campus, which is farther east on Seltice. Babich says the remodel project will include putting in some new interior walls, making mechanical and wiring upgrades, and rearranging space for about eight offices and three conference rooms. The building will house about 10 administrative staff members.

The district expected to select a contractor this week, and Babich says the remodeling work should be completed by November. H2A Architects PA, of Coeur d'Alene, handled the remodeling design.

The district's main campus will continue to be used for regional training and maintenance, and its facility employees will remain there and use the vacated space. That campus also has a new $1.2 million training tower and related site construction, which is nearly complete this month, and two storage buildings.

Kootenai County Fire & Rescue oversees several fire stations in Post Falls and in pockets around the city of Coeur d'Alene, but doesn't cover the city itself. It has eight stations in all, and recently sought contractor bids to replace the roof on Station 8, at 20338 S. Highway 97, which it owns and the all-volunteer East Side Fire District, based in Harrison, operates. However, the district didn't receive any bids, Babich says, so it plans to post the request again.

Sprague fire station

In Sprague, Wash., about 40 miles southwest of Spokane, Fire Chief Scott Clemenson says the fire district there plans to spend about $2.5 million to build a facility to house fire engines, two ambulances, and some law enforcement operations. The emergency response center will be constructed on a 1.5-acre site the district owns just off State Route 23, about a quarter of a mile south of Interstate 90.

Clemenson says a landowner donated most of the property for the station that is located northeast of downtown Sprague.

The district recently issued a request for an architectural firm to do an updated design and final planning for the center, which is expected to take about three months to complete. Clemenson says the district expects to seek contractor bids in November or December and to break ground by March.

Design plans call for a station of almost 13,000 square feet, or up to 15,600 square feet, depending on whether the district accepts any of the alternative bid options. It's planned to have six apparatus bays and possibly another four bays, depending on the bids received from contractors.

A current 2,600-square-foot district fire station is located in downtown Sprague, attached to City Hall at 113 C Street, and the district leases that space from the city of Sprague. It stores an engine, ambulance, and other equipment there.

The district also uses space inside a 5,000-square-foot steel shed it owns directly across the street from there that houses the fire chief's office, a training room, and a maintenance area. That steel shed will probably be sold after the new station is built, and the city will likely use the vacated station space next to City Hall to store its own equipment in the future, Clemenson says.

He says close to 70 percent of the district's emergency calls are in response to highway accidents or motorists who need medical attention.

Sprague's Lincoln County Fire District 1 received a $1 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency toward the new emergency center. It also received matching funds that include $300,000 from the state Legislature and $700,000 from a community development block grant, as well as $100,000 from community and individual donations.