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Lansing Fire Commissioners discussed how fire investigations should be handled in their February meeting Tuesday.  Commissioner Kimberly Spencer asked whether fellow commissioners think Lansing should train its own inspector.  Currently the department pays the Ithaca Fire Department $400 for an inspection.  But the commissioners and Chief Scott Purcell noted that Lansing doesn't get enough calls to provide the hours needed to certify a fire investigator, and the few calls in Lansing that require an investigation don't justify the amount of training.

Fires are investigated if we can't tell what the origin of the fire was," District Chairman Robert Wagner says.  "It's up to the Chief to decide whether it needs to be investigated." 

Purcell says that he calls an investigator when the origin of a fire is not evident.  The last time the department used an investigator was at the Mogil fire last April, when the cause was determined to be a fault in the electrical system.  "When the first unit got there the back half of the house was fully engulfed, so we had no idea what started it," Purcell says.  "If something has a lot of damage it's hard to pinpoint."

Commissioner Jeff Walters asked whether the commissioners should consider charging for inspections.  But they agreed that with few calls for the service the district will keep paying for them.  "Ithaca has good investigators," Purcell says.  "They have good interview techniques."  "We're just going to continue to pay them," Wagner said.  "We won't be charging the public."

The commissioners also received preliminary drawings from architect Dennis Ross showing possible configurations for an addition to Central Station on Ridge Road.  "We told him the space we needed and he gave us a basic schematic," explains District Secretary Alvin Parker.  The addition would include bunk rooms, a decontamination room, storage, a room for the compressor to fill breathing bottles for fire fighters, and storage for EMS supplies.  The renovation would also group spaces together by function, placing administrative rooms on one side with support spaces near the fire garage.

"It was in the capital plan," says Commissioner Jeff Walters.  "We're five to seven years past when we were going to do it.  Everything is growing, and with the new mandates that you have you have to keep up."  But Parker noted that the project is just in the preliminary planning stage, and it is unlikely that the project would be built this year.

The district is also considering plans to build a new firehouse in the Village of Lansing.  With more than 50% of incidents in the village, the Oakcrest Road firehouse is too small to adequately serve the municipality.  Commissioners say that project is also moving very slowly, and it is not likely to go to a vote this year.

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