Saltville considers new police, fire station

By DAN KEGLEY/Staff

Saltville’s firefighters could get headquarters that won’t fall down around them. The town’s police officers could have an office with the space and features needed for departmental accreditation. And town hall staff could gain more room if the police department vacates its existing space at the rear of the building.
Those are the “chief” benefits to the fire and police department and the town if preliminary plans for a new station are followed through.
The plans began several months ago when firefighters complained that the floor of their current building, a reused store, was too unstable to safely park fire trucks on it.
Lance Morgan of Anderson and Associates told Saltville’s town council last week that a proposed basic metal building, with no external paving or lights, could be built for $65 per square foot, or about $644,000. Complete outdoors and indoors, with a sprinkler system for its own fire protection, will cost about $1.4 million, Morgan said.
That figure includes a 15 percent contingency for hidden problems needing correcting and market fluctuations in material prices.
The building would be located in the west end of Saltville, across Route 91 from Hartwood Supply.
Council member Neil Johnson asked Morgan to confirm no environmental issues would be encountered in that area. Johnson is acutely aware just how swiftly one can run afoul of regulations, particularly those governing wetlands. Three years ago depositing fill dirt in a wet part of Saltville Golf Course Johnson manages won him a visit from the Army Corps of Engineers that told him he had violated a wetlands regulation.
Removing the dirt would be a violation too, without the permit Johnson received to correct the blunder.
Morgan told him the area was cleared in an environmental study on the town through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development agency.
The new building would be paid for in part through proceeds from the sale of town-owned timber, and council member Dickie Dye said the fire department could bill residents’ insurance companies $500 for a response to a house fire, $250 for a wreck. People with insurance would not be charged, a fire official said.
A downside to charging for responses, according to council member Rusty Cahill, could be the loss of grants and low-interest loans awarded to fully voluntary fire departments.
Accreditation could enable the police department to receive more grant funding, said Chief Steve Surber, and could be achieved in a new location by the inclusion of shower rooms and other functional spaces not currently available.
Morgan said he evaluated the current fire station and found some settling has occurred, but it could stand another 10 years or 200 years. He will re-examine the building to determine an approximate life expectancy.
Cahill suggested Department of Homeland Security grants could be available to Saltville Fire Department because of the presence of the natural gas storage facilities at Spectra Energy’s Saltville Gas Storage Co.
Surber, however, said that during a tour of the facilities, law enforcement officers learned the storage area is not a high-priority target for terrorists because of the low surrounding population.
“There was the possibility of an explosion,” Surber said, “but not enough people to target.”
Council tabled the discussion pending Morgan’s re-evaluation of the fire station and Surber’s research into the full benefits of police department accreditation.