Work has begun on a new, taller door for the downtown fire station. The additional height will allow the city's new ambulance to fit through the door.
The Dillingham Downtown fire station is getting a new door today. The door will be a foot taller than the old one to allow for a new ambulance, which will arrive on the late July barge.
Braden Tinker is the fire and EMS coordinator for Dillingham. He says the new ambulance is overdue.
“The last one that was bought was in 2004. And we have a replacement plan to replace an ambulance every five years, but that got kind of put on the back burner with other equipment being bought. But the downtown station is the primary station during the daytime that runs the majority of the calls for Dillingham. So a new ambulance with the powered equipment on board is vital to just having two responders during the daytime.”
Tinker says if a fire engine goes out of commission, it will need to be replaced; larger emergency vehicles aren’t isolated to ambulances.
“The newer the engines the bigger they are, nowadays. You can’t get ‘em as small and fit them into such tight spaces as they used to back in the day.”
The downtown fire station was built in the days of smaller engines. Tinker says it may need more upgrades or repairs in the future.
“It’s gonna be a constant upkeep with this downtown station due to the age and everything. As the money comes in and if, you know, we’re able to put towards this building than we’ll modify it as much as we can, hopefully.”
Building modifications don’t come cheap, though. The new fire station door cost the city $32,000 and the installation will take ten days. The ambulance itself cost over $242,000, split between a state EMS grant and the City's Ambulance Replacement fund.
Contact the author at allison@kdlg.org or (907) 842-5281.