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Lansing Fire Commissioners unveiled plans for a 2.3 million dollar addition to Central Fire Station Tuesday night.  In a poorly attended informational meeting Commissioner Jeff Walters presented the 7300 square foot, one story plan that will add an additional equipment bay so that emergency vehicles won't have to be shuffled to get them on the road in emergencies, a decontamination room, emergency medical storage, and space for up to eight live-in firefighters.

"We haven't added anything to this building," Walters said.  "It's going to be 30 years old this year.  This project was in our 20 year capital plan.  It will allow us to be code compliant in our bunk rooms.  There are no sprinkler systems at this time, and no fire alarm system.  We'll do safety upgrades."



According to Walters the district has set aside $1,469,433.66 in building reserves.  The rest of the project will be traditionally funded, but the interest payments on those loans have already been budgeted for.  Fire Commissioners say that means there will be no tax rate increase for the project.  And while the proposition that will be put to the voters, possibly as early August or September, will ask permission to finance up to $1 million, District Treasurer George Gesslein says he may be able to pay for the project with loans amounting to as little as half of that depending on the state of the economy and the timing of the bidding.

"It will be either traditional financing or other available funds," Gesslein says.  "I don't plan to finance the whole million dollars."


"The department is 100% volunteer," Walters said.  "We cover about 75 square miles in the northeast of Tompkins County.  Operating from four stations the Lansing Fire Department responds to all alarms of fire, vehicle accidents, medical emergencies, hazardous materials incidents, and hazardous conditions in our response area.  Our coverage area is one of the largest in our county and one of the most varied."

Bunk rooms will hold up to eight 'bunkers.'  Commissioners hope to attract college students to live in the station and thus provide early response services.  They site a successful program in Cayuga Heights that has not only attracted a full contingent of bunkers, but also has a large waiting list.  Current bunk rooms will be reconfigured to provide more office and meeting room/training room space.

"The new bunker facility is configured to be more attractive to bunkers," architect Sandell Snyder explained.  "The current facility is one big open room.  We're proposing individual rooms that allow female and male bunkers, and it is more attractive to come and live where they have a little bit of privacy.  So there is a good chance that they're going to have a much more successful bunker program here."

Currently emergency volunteers wash out their equipment as best they can in the bays of the garage or the same kitchen where they prepare food.  A new decontamination room will provide a safer environment.

"Right now if we come back from a call with blood on backboards or equipment we actually wash them on the floor of the bay," Walters said.  "There is no decontamination room in this building.  Right now we clean our masks in the kitchen sink."

Copies of the 20 year capital and budget plans were handed out.  The capital plan shows expenditures for the project in 2010 and 2011.

The Fire Commissioners were in negotiations to build a new fire station in the Village of Lansing, but costs were so high that Walters says they weren't justified.  Village Trustees had offered a space on their property that is currently occupied by a water tower that is scheduled to be removed in the next year or two.  With that project on hold, the Central Station addition has taken on more importance.  Walters says that most Lansing responders are closer to the Ridge Road facility, so go there to pick up equipment and vehicles even when responding to emergencies in the Village, which accounts for about half of the 900+ annual Lansing 911 calls.


Walters says Mayor Donald Hartill and Trustee John O'Neill favor a new plan to build a more economical Morton-style building on the site of the current Oakcrest Road Fire Station property.  But officials say that won't be seriously considered until the Central Station addition is completed.

A second informational meeting is planned for June 10th.  Commissioners say they hope that meeting is better attended.  Commissioners also considered other opportunities for explaining the project to the public before it is brought to a vote.

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