Media Advisory

09/27/10 Contact: Kristy Yager, 297-2550

Deputy Chief Cecil Clay, 830-9199



Fire Station #4 to celebrate grand opening on Wednesday

WHO: The City of Oklahoma City


WHAT: The City’s first newly constructed fire station in 15 years will open this Wednesday, September 29.


The state of the art facility features the City’s most advanced fire station alerting system, individual sleeping quarters, a dedicated de-con area, EMS gear room and a large rig room with infrared heating. The most functional aspects of the station are the safety enhanced rig bay doors and the design of the sleeping quarters, which include private storage for firefighters on all three shifts.

The $2.7 million station is being funded through the 2000 General Obligation Bond Issue.


WHEN: 2 p.m. Wednesday, September 29


WHERE: 14200 Hogback Road. Take N I-35 to Memorial Road. Drive east for 9.5 miles. The road splits after 3 miles, stay on Memorial road to the right. Turn left (north) on Hogback Rd. You will see Station 4 on the hill to your right (east). Here is a MAP.


EVENT DAY CONTACT:
Joshua Ryan, 388-7347 cell or Cecil Clay 830-9199 cell

Except for the fact it took 10 years to complete this project, and it came in at $825,000. over budget, and I'll be paying on it for the next 30 years, when it could have been paid for in cash with the additional 3/4 cent sales tax I pay, I'm glad its finished, congratulations.

Glad to see it open 10 years after the bond was approved, that's about the city's speed. I don't think I'd go as far to say as state of the Art since it's riddled with design flaws and wastes money on many unnecessary items.

The good news is that homeowners in the area have been telling us that they got a break on their homeowners insurance the day after it opened.

Except for the fact it took 10 years to complete this project, and it came in at $825,000. over budget, and I'll be paying on it for the next 30 years, when it could have been paid for in cash with the additional 3/4 cent sales tax I pay, I'm glad its finished, congratulations.

Would you care for a little cheese to go with that comment?

don't tell the firefighter union folks that the City is spending money on them for new facilities.

Metro,

They closed old fire station 4 downtown to open this new one up. And I'm sure it's only by coincidence that the old station is just south of the Ford center. (Land will be sold for a MINT) The bond issue was passed in 2000. That's how long the station out there has been needed. Who do you think has been screaming for this station to be built? It was the firefighters and the UNION; not the politicians or city management. They only turned loose with the funds recently to get it done and then as usual pissed more money away on useless frills and design flaws. So don't worry about telling the union folks, rather you can thank us for continuing to beat the drum to get it built. Now maybe they can move on to repairing the station in Capitol Hill that been closed for over a year.

Is the fire station at NE 8 and Lincoln closed as well? What happened there anyway?

Old station 6 is closed due to the fire they had about a year ago. The property had been purchased by the folks developing around the Presby area and the new station was due to be built in the bricktown area prior to the fire. That little incident just forced the city to find land and build sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, the new site had to have the oil toxic waste cleaned up prior to building the new station so it's running behind schedule. You can see some progress on it today and it should be open in a year or less.

Station 6 is now squatting in old station 4 until the new station is built then it will be demolished. I'll have to go and see if I can find the bond issue that was passed for new station 6 but I believe it was 7 or 8 years ago as well. The money that the city is making off the sale of land from station 6 should be considerable and you would think that would go to pay off the bond, but that's not the way it works and those funds will be put back into the General Fund. Same with the funds from old station 4 when it's sold. So forgive me if i don't get excited about the city spending money on something tax payers asked for 8-10 years ago and then pocket the profits off the land investments for their own "pet" projects. Does anyone even care to look at where funds from the GF get distributed to? It's your money people!

How did station 6 catch fire? As for station 4 - is that on the central park site?

Mice with matches and I believe it's adjacent to site.

mice with matches?

Sorry, firefighter humor. Undetermined last I heard. So if you can't prove exactly what started it, you can narrow it down to electrical, human error or if still undetermined "mice with matches".

Humor! I remember when that was once in far more abundant supply than it is today!

Except for the fact it took 10 years to complete this project, and it came in at $825,000. over budget, and I'll be paying on it for the next 30 years, when it could have been paid for in cash with the additional 3/4 cent sales tax I pay, I'm glad its finished, congratulations.
Casey, I have to go with Mike (above writer) on this one. While I'm glad this station is finally opening, unless I'm badly mistaken this project should have been completed long ago and if the allocated 3/4 penny sales tax had been properly handled by the city manager's office (and clear evidence [to me, at least] demonstrates that the city has persistently and deliberately misapplied Fire's share of the 3/4 penny sales tax over the years) it would have been completed long ago.

So, while the city should rightly take credit for actually getting this project done (which it was obligated to do ... after all, the station is not a free birthday present from city government to its citizens, is it?), the announcement should also be couched with at least some words of embarrassment and humility, not high-fives or back-patting.




The city could and should humbly say as a true penitent would, "Forgive me, citizens, for I have sinned. It has been 20-30 years since my last confession ... heck, I can't remember my last one if I ever did," etc., and then make a bona fide contrite confession about the city's persistent mishandling of Fire's share of the 3/4 penny sales tax.
If that should happen, which of course it won't, citizens could and probably would then then give city government a modest penance which could be privately performed and this particular sin of city government would be forgiven, and hugs would be received all around.

Might such a thing ever happen? Dream on, teenage queen.

don't tell the firefighter union folks that the City is spending money on them for new facilities.
Metro, I think that you've missed the mark on dissing the firefighters and patting the backs of city government on this one.

Station 6 burned when the station was out on a call. The land for Station 6 was not sold per se, it was swapped with Urban Renewal land for land in Bricktown so that the Bricktown Fire Station could be built (it also involved land and lease swapping with Bob Mienders and Don Karchmer, a very involved deal). The Fire Station Location Study that was done for Fire a couple years ago reinforced the need for the new location of Station 4, and also recommended the three new stations that were approved in the 2007 Bond election. The Location Study is worth a read; great analysis of response times using GIS mapping (http://www.okc.gov/fire/fire_report.pdf). Althought I do take issue with the fact that it's not an OKC fire unit on the front cover. :)

As a side note, any time the City sells land, it must re-pay to the funding mechanism by which it was originally acquired. I beleive that extends as far as this example: If Station 6 land was bought with Bond funds, then proceeds from its sale must go to the Bond program and be expended on related programs. I may be stretching; if that Bond is completely done, then it may have to go to General Fund.

Also, the thought that something was voter-approved in 2000, and therefore must have been built then, is far too simplistic. Each bond election is considered on a future sale basis, and each project is then generally sold along the initial timeline. Sometimes those projects move around. In the case of Station 4, the 3/4 sales tax wouldn't have helped b/c this is a Bond project. 3/4 might be used to supplement, but it's use (or mis-use, if you see it that way), was not meant for that project. Unless someone has a statement from the City saying that Station 4 funds would be issued immediately, then it's impossible to say it's 10 years late. In fact, since the election was in 2000, the funds wouldn't have been available until 2001. It would have then taken a 9 months to a year to design; 2002. Add the year to construct, and the very earliest it could have possibly been used would be the end of 2003. That's if it was on the first round of projects.

Finally, barnold, I'd really appreciate hearing your thoughts on the specific design flaws. What is wrong with the facility? Have you been in it? I would not call the closure of Station 4 a coincidence. That area of downtown has the least population density, and is well-served (or will be, when open) by Station 6 and Station 1, and even Station 5 if necessary. Station 7, when construction is finished, can also handle the relatively low population between the River and I-40. Hopefully, if Core to Shore becomes reality in 30+ years, we'll need a new station in that area to handle the density, but the need for Station 4 in its current location is no longer necessary.

I never thought the city would sell those plots. I was sure they would gift them. I don't think they can sell themselves the land from station 4 for the park. Not sure.

The fire at station 6 was started by a loaner, someone not usually working there. He was cooking and burned the joint down.

My rub is the city obviously prioritizes projects and this one was pushed back several times. If you look at the City of Moore. They passed a sales tax in Nov. of 2006 to build 3 new stations and they are almost complete.

The 3 new stations will be 26, 29 and 38. Would anyone care to guess when they will be done? Station 21 and 23 are scheduled to be rebuilt from the same bond issue.

My rub is the city obviously prioritizes projects and this one was pushed back several times. If you look at the City of Moore. They passed a sales tax in Nov. of 2006 to build 3 new stations and they are almost complete.

The 3 new stations will be 26, 29 and 38. Would anyone care to guess when they will be done? Station 21 and 23 are scheduled to be rebuilt from the same bond issue.

No denying that complaint. The process for determining what bonds sell, how much, and when, is relatively low-key. One good thing that was done this time was selling some of the Fire bonds early so that they could buy land before anyone else picked it up and drove the cost of the projects up.

Just heard something interesting.... Barnold, Mike Marsh ... did your brethren leave the stove burner on when they left on a call?

My rub is the city obviously prioritizes projects and this one was pushed back several times.

Is your disagreement that projects should be prioritized or with the process of prioritizing or the people who do the prioritizing?

Steve- that's the rumor. Last official word was undetermined. Wouldn't be the first time we had a structure fire caused by food on the stove though.

Cafeboeuf- I hope your not on a city computer right now.....hehe.....ya, I've been out there shaking my head each time, wondering who in the heck designed that place and why. I love our fire chief and am kinda disappointed that he would sign off on the design, but it is what it is and were stuck with it.
Station 4 is a cut up mess. The best thing about it is the apparatus bay even though I think the $26,000 bi-fold doors are over the top. The 30,000 gallon water tank that is for the sprinkler and water system is already leaning several inches out of square (that won't get fixed anytime soon), the automated alert system that is state of the art is unnecessary since both rigs will be going on all calls and even if one were to be left at the house someone has to close the doors. (unknown costs). All of the lockers and doors are keyed the same, if someone is in the bedroom you must dress in the hallway (see other posts for naked in the firehouse), a grown man cannot fit in the shower, there are more doors in the station than 3 standard homes basically making it a series of boxes, the concrete floors look like they haven't been finished (but they said that's it) and finally it could be the Jones fire station 4 for all anyone knows because they forgot to make sure it has an OCFD station 4 sign out front. That's just for starters. They moved those poor souls out there while contractors were still finishing their punch out lists and was trying to clean up. Those guys took it in stride but will spend the next several months cleaning up and changing things around to make it a livable space.
As to the bond issue, I would only guess that those 30+ year old stations had the bonds retired and any profits would go back to the GF. I do remember the land swap for station 6 but also seem to remember that the city benefitted monetarily which was why it was so "in depth" and took so long, but I would have to do some digging to confirm. Either way I don't care, I think the city should make a profit for their investment. The issue I take is with the length of time to replace or re-locate needed services. By your calculation it's only 7 years too late. That's too long! I agree that old station 4 is no longer needed but not when you pulled the additional Engine company from station 1 in it's entirety, thus reducing total manpower and equipment to cover the downtown area. The rural folks are reaping the rewards while those in the metro area are getting less, but they don't really seem to care anyway.
And since you brought up the location study in the first place and seemed to have studied it, why don't you share exactly how many of the recommendations the city has decided to go forward with. By the time anything is acted upon the study will be another 10 years out of date and behind the times again. That's not progress or reactionary planning, that's called playing catchup from years of poor leadership at the political level.

barnold, does anything make you happy ?, or do you moan and gripe just for the fun of it.

Flintysooner, in a nutshell my gripe is this. When the City and the Chamber of Commerce are pushing for these bond issues (which I have supported everything since I moved to the city in 1988, excluding M3) you see Buildings and streets in disrepair and then you see the police and firefighters. They use public safety to sell these taxes and bond issues. The 2007 G.O. bond issue had Public safety all over the commercials yet the fire dept. had the lowest amount of money dedicated, approx 16 million out of 760,000,000.00 dollars. Nothing has been done so far from that pot of bond money. I'll gripe when it's needed and praise when it's due. I am still tickled to be riding around in the fire engine I ride on. The station we park it in is a complete dump, with ant infestion and more dust than you can sweep up in a day.

It has got to be a matter of priorities. City of Moore has all new rigs, 3 new stations and the Fire fighters are paid more than Oklahoma City. All this without M3, Thunder, Redhawks, Barons and Bricktown

...Also, the thought that something was voter-approved in 2000, and therefore must have been built then, is far too simplistic. Each bond election is considered on a future sale basis, and each project is then generally sold along the initial timeline. Sometimes those projects move around. In the case of Station 4, the 3/4 sales tax wouldn't have helped b/c this is a Bond project. 3/4 might be used to supplement, but it's use (or mis-use, if you see it that way), was not meant for that project. Unless someone has a statement from the City saying that Station 4 funds would be issued immediately, then it's impossible to say it's 10 years late. In fact, since the election was in 2000, the funds wouldn't have been available until 2001. It would have then taken a 9 months to a year to design; 2002. Add the year to construct, and the very earliest it could have possibly been used would be the end of 2003. That's if it was on the first round of projects. ...

Not disputing any of that because I think that is the reality. However, I also think there is a perception among the public in general that bond issue projects are going to be built sooner rather than later. That with a bond, it is borrowed money and that you don't have to wait for the money (like with a sales tax based MAPS type project). Seems that the time frame from passage to completion is about the same no matter how it is paid for (borrowed or pay-as-you-go).

Case in point, a few years ago now (before the 07 bond) where an audit was done that showed projects hadn't even been started going back over 3 different bond issues and 18 years (at the time of the audit). When asked, the City Manager said that 1) higher priorities existed (MAPS) and 2) they didn't have the supervisors to oversee the projects. Asked for followup, asking what the projects were (article didn't go into any detail) and if those projects had been completed or even started (when they were asking for more money for the 07 bond issue. Absolutely no reply.

I also agree that not spending bond money and a bond project would probably be illegal, but I think the point is that we have the 3/4 cent tax designed for just this sort of thing and probably should have never been part of the bond issue to begin with.

While there may be a vague understanding that bond money is borrowed money, depending on the length of the bond (i.e., 10, 20 or 30 years) the actual cost can easily double or triple the actual cost. There was a case back with the original MAPS where they thought they were going to have to issue bonds to cover cost over runs. IIRC, it was going to be a $10M, 20 year bond and the article stated the debt service would be $1M/year. The $10M project just doubled to $20M (unclear if the $20M included paying back the principal or if that was just covering the interest, so may have tripled it). Much more efficient to utilize sales tax money whenever you can...pay cash as opposed to taking out a loan.

You mentioned that the earliest it could be completed would have been 2003, yet it is 2010. Would you agree that it is 7 years late? Obviously, priorities change and things get shifted around and delayed. That's going to happen and probably can't be avoided. Good case in point, reportedly, money was already earmarked from the MAPS 4 Kids Use Tax for a new Fire truck. Priorities changed and that money was diverted to pay for the Cox improvements for the new hockey team. Granted, that money is essentially an internal loan from the City to itself, and they do plan on paying the money back through a seat surcharge (presuming sellout crowds, should be paid back in about 5 years or so). But that is small comfort when you realize that means that new Fire truck is at least 5 years away (unless they find another source for the funds). If they don't have sellout crowds and if the new hockey team is even still around, that 5 years could be pushed back even more.

One problem with bonds is that the funds are only sold once a year. Therefore, you just can't get to all of the projects in a timely manner. For instance, the 2007 Bond is planned for a 10 year horizon. Therefore, right from the start, the City doesn't even plan to sell the final bonds until 2017, making construction happen 2018 at earliest. That fact may not be well explained during campaigning. Also, just so you feel a bit better, the 1989 and 1995 Bonds are completely done now. I think the 2000 is almost completely done as well. Call 297-2581 and ask for the Bond program manager.

Barnold, I'll bite. I'm not playing sides at all, so here's the list from the report:

Priority #1: Construct Bricktown fire station (FY 2008). Under construction.
Priority #2: Relocate Station 6 to NE OKC (FY 2008). Changed to relocate Station 4 to NE, Station 6 to Bricktown. Done.
Priority #3: Relocate Station 4 to SW 104th & Council (FY 2009). Station funded by 2007 GO Bond...
Priority #4: Construct new station at SW 59th & Richland (FY 2011). Station funded by 2007 GO Bond...
Priority #5: Construct new station at SE 149th & Douglas (FY 2013). Station funded by 2007 GO Bond...
Additional FY 2010: Add new RL to Station 28.
Some time: Move ladders and chiefs around to more accurately spread out response times.

So, it seems the City has chosen to fund parts of the plan, but the time line is different than the consultant's. The tough part now is that every City department had to take budget cuts; the location study came before the economic collapse, and obviously didn't take existing funding into account. Eventually the City has to build the approved stations, and staff will need to come from somewhere (either new recruits or moving existing stations around).

Here's my biggest beef - the Union has this report in its hands. Why are union members fighting their battles via postcard and on OKC Talk? Why don't they get some real PR to take their banner forward? Same with Police and their staffing study. The City paid these consultants, why not use that information in your own fight? Why am I the one pointing this out?

Cafeboeuf, I made a mistake, let me correct it. Money has been spent from the 2007 G.O. bond issue on the fire stations. Land has been purchased at 119th and Rockwell and at 59th and Richland. Land is being shopped for 149 and Sooner area.

Your post was very detailed about bond issues and your question about postcards is not related to those bonds. The postcard campaign is about the Mayor and David Prater making statements related to M3 to get it passed that were untrue. You've heard the quotes and after the vote, the city reduced Public safety by 51 positions. For the life of me I cant understand why that doesnt bother anyone. Not much was said so they have made noise about taking another swipe at reductions in force. Currently the cities proposal is asking for a little over $4,000,000.00 in concessions. They already eliminated $2.9 million, how much more and what is the end game for them? Pete White told one of our members "well, we didnt hire McAfee and Taft so we could roll your contract over. Were going to get our monies worth out of them".

What was that last sales tax check up? Some 15%!

cafeboeuf:

Thanks for the info. Again, I think the common mis-perception is when someone hears that it is a 10 year bond, that the bonds are sold right away and it takes 10 years to pay the bonds back. The implication there, is that the borrowing entity has the money in hand and sitting on it, doing nothing. Then we get the press release announcing the grand opening of one of the projects, 10 years later. In the minds of most, that seems to be a completely unacceptable time lag. Understandable in a pay-as-you-go (MAPS style sales tax method) but why the long, drawn out process with the bond method? End result is it still takes 10 years (mol) from passage until last project is complete. If there is no time difference in the methods, abandon the bond issue method, use a sales tax and apply all of the interest savings towards the projects instead of servicing debt. Both methods have to be approved by the voters so I'm not sure why we still utilize bonds when there are much more financially responsible methods.

Now Mike, let's report the figures as they really are: sales tax collections are still below what they were two years ago. If I was getting paid $30,000 a year in 2008, saw my salary drop to $20,000 in 2009, and then saw an increase this year to $25,000, I'm not quite sure I'd be opening up my checkbook and spending freely again. As for no one being upset by promises made by the mayor when it came to MAPS 3 use taxes -watch the city council these days. They're not as compliant with his wishes as they once appeared. As for the public perception - well, again, I say, hire a public relations firm. And no, a political consultant whose experience is in slash-and-burn campaigns isn't the same thing. In fact, that sort of hiring might backfire...
Notice the FOP isn't engaging in the same sort of campaign as the fire union. Why is that? Going way back to my cop beat days, it always seemed as if police were far more understaffed and resourced than the fire department, and from what I hear, that's not changed. As discussed previously, sprawl doesn't always equate into more fires, but it can easily mean more crime.

Steve, 2008 has been surpassed and we were informed that from now on the extra funds from sales tax revenue would be going to fund balances.

Again, what is the end game? What is the plan? Hire high power lawyers to handle negotiations. Is the economy bad enough to come to the table asking for almost $9,000,000.00 in concessions, that's where we started.

The PD is not part of this because they got a contract last year. The city knows if they push on those guys too hard they will forget how to write tickets.

So 2010 ytd collections are over 2008 ytd collections? That's wonderful and very surprising news!
As far as pushing on police too hard ... really? I remember a time when police were having to drive cars with holes in the floor boards and 200,000 miles on the odometer..... if that wasn't a case of city leaders going cheap on the guys out on the street, what is?

09/29/10

Contact:
Chief Cecil Clay, 297-3314

Kristy Yager, 297-2550

New fire station opens in northeast Oklahoma City
City officials celebrated the grand opening of Fire Station #4 in far northeast Oklahoma City today. It is the first new station built in Oklahoma City in 15 years.

The station is located 14200 Hogback Road.

“I’d like to thank the Oklahoma City residents who went to the polls in 2000 and supported the bond issue that helped fund this fire station,” Fire Chief Keith Bryant said. “This location allows crews to respond quickly to the growing number of people who live in far northeast Oklahoma City.”

The new fire station features a state of the art alerting system designed to reduce firefighter’s response time, a decontamination area, a built in sprinkler system, a room dedicated to EMS gear, a rig room with an infrared heating system that stores one heavy tanker, one brush pump to fight grass fires and one engine, four-fold doors that can be opened in the case of a power failure and water tanks that provide water to the area. The most functional aspects of the station are the safety enhanced rig bay doors and the design of the sleeping quarters, which include private storage for firefighters on all three shifts.

The station replaces the old Fire Station 4 located at 101 SW 4th and was funded through the 2000 GO Bond Issue.

There are 35 fire stations Citywide.

###

You're really stretching Casey, but I guess it's easier than answering the questions you bailed on in the thread below.
http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=23159

So they built a FS that was set up and bond issued before your dad was even in office. They only have the manpower to staff it because they closed a FS to move the men. What should really be interesting is how they propose to staff the next few stations since there aren't plans to close any more down and the city, under your fathers leadership, just eliminated 51 positions on the FD. If you could answer that or perhaps go back to the other thread and answer those questions it would be greatly appreciated.

Or you can just keep cutting and pasting city notifications, whichever is more comfortable for you.

Did I miss something? It doesn't look like Casey brought up anything about the Fire Department's disputes with the city. Seems he is just posting info about the new fire station opening.

No, Casey has chosen to cut and paste city notifications, in place of interaction with others, when the questions get too hard. You can go back and read the other thread and see when he went mute.

I would occasionally answer a question if it ever meant anything. I am most definitely not an internet debater because I think it is dumb, pointless and a big time waster. I was embarrassed (to my self) when I sat back and wondered how much time I have spent talking about city-related items and get nothing but negatives responses from people with no actual names or accountability.
For those that have have ever engaged in conversations instead of reading everything with a slant on how you can make it negative, I applaud you.
I posted a press release about the first fire station to open in 15 years...boy that seems like good news. I guess not.
I posted a release (a month ago) about the positive sales tax revenues...seemingly good news, especially to those that were against Maps 3 because they were very skeptical of the budget projections...nope, all the "pro-fire" people did was complain some more.
I now know do not need to respond to anyone named "Wambo36", "mikemarsh51", "barnold", "andy157" or "Larry OKC" (and any others) because doing so is a big waste of my time. Keep telling the union to waste their budget on postcards and anti-OKC progression...it's worked so far.

So, I take it you couldn't find anywhere he was misquoted. Good enough. Pretty weak for a guy calling other people liars.

... They only have the manpower to staff it because they closed a FS to move the men. What should really be interesting is how they propose to staff the next few stations since there aren't plans to close any more down and the city, under your fathers leadership, just eliminated 51 positions on the FD. ...

Out of curiosity, for those like me who don't know. Were the cut positions living, breathing trained fire folk, or were the cut positions vacant but authorized slots on a budget sheet?
If the latter, were the vacant but authorized slots funded or unfunded?
If funded, what became of the funds? Increases in costs of existing personnel, i.e., COLA, insurance increases, promotions of deserving folk, or did the funds slide into some other category like equipment, or revert to somewhere else in the budget?
If the authorized slots were unfunded, where would the funds come from to train and fill the authorized paper slots so living breathing trained fire folk could man a rig, fill vacancies in existing stations, or man a new station or stations?

09/29/10

Contact:
Chief Cecil Clay, 297-3314

Kristy Yager, 297-2550

New fire station opens in northeast Oklahoma City
City officials celebrated the grand opening of Fire Station #4 in far northeast Oklahoma City today. It is the first new station built in Oklahoma City in 15 years.

The station is located 14200 Hogback Road.

“I’d like to thank the Oklahoma City residents who went to the polls in 2000 and supported the bond issue that helped fund this fire station,” Fire Chief Keith Bryant said. “This location allows crews to respond quickly to the growing number of people who live in far northeast Oklahoma City.”

The new fire station features a state of the art alerting system designed to reduce firefighter’s response time, a decontamination area, a built in sprinkler system, a room dedicated to EMS gear, a rig room with an infrared heating system that stores one heavy tanker, one brush pump to fight grass fires and one engine, four-fold doors that can be opened in the case of a power failure and water tanks that provide water to the area. The most functional aspects of the station are the safety enhanced rig bay doors and the design of the sleeping quarters, which include private storage for firefighters on all three shifts.

The station replaces the old Fire Station 4 located at 101 SW 4th and was funded through the 2000 GO Bond Issue.

There are 35 fire stations Citywide.

###

One thing that the announcememt didnt say was that the heavy tanker that will be housed at the station is that it will not be manned. It will look good in the rig room though.

Casey, a good part of our budget is going to lawyers to defend ourselves in the lawsuit the city has filed against us because of their unfair labor practice. Alot of money down the drain on both sides.

Kevin, these were actual Budgeted positions that the city had not filled. We have not had a recuit class in 2 years. The last one we had was 9 people. We have hat at least 10 retire this year. You tell me where the salary savings is going! And they are asking for a 3.75% pay reduction now!

http://www.newsok.com/oklahoma-citys-newest-fire-station-opens/article/3499943?custom_click=headlines_widget
Oklahoma City's newest fire station opens (Oklahoman, 9/30/10)


The one-story structure has no need for a fire pole. It does not have city water, but does have a 30,000-gallon water tank.

Ummmm, ok.....


Maybe they couldn't afford the rate increase? LOL

Steve. I did not intend to hijack this thread. But your comment about YTD collections took me off subject. One more thing for you to ponder. In April of this year the city council adjusted the budget by $12,000,000.00. Yet the line we hear is we are so far down in collections. I say we are way up due to the storm damages we suffered. All the money being spent has been stimulating OKC's economy very well. The city still will not release the adjusted budget totals. I'm thinking they are going to at some point, have to explain the "actual" budget situation. Most likely that will be in arbitration again this year.

And how about those bi-fold doors, those are cool!

Found this pic on the City's twitter account, don't think they'll mind.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/169906019.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0ZRYP5X5F6FSMBCCSE82&Expires=1285859581&Signature=Lj0TQ76Hl92UpYPJR0oIdsnh%2BTY%3D

As a citizen, taxpayer and property owner, I am glad to see OKC adding a new fire station. In the news just this week, Detroit's 40 fire stations were given shutoff notices by the local gas company for not paying its bills, and California is closing stations all across the state for lack of funding. Glad to be here.

Would you care for a little cheese to go with that comment?Sure

As a citizen, taxpayer and property owner, I am glad to see OKC adding a new fire station. In the news just this week, Detroit's 40 fire stations were given shutoff notices by the local gas company for not paying its bills, and California is closing stations all across the state for lack of funding. Glad to be here.I'm a citizen, a taxpayer,and a property owner as well. I'm also glad to see new Fire Stations being added. I just not all that giddy about paying for them twice, thats all.

are they expecting development out that way, thus planning ahead, or was that area just in extreme need of a firestation? or both? Because that seems really far out there. I didnt even know okc went that far NE lol

are they expecting development out that way, thus planning ahead, or was that area just in extreme need of a firestation? or both? Because that seems really far out there. I didnt even know okc went that far NE lol

my thoughts exactly.

OKCtalker,
This is not an addition of a new fire station in total number of firehouses, this is a fire station being moved from the downtown area. However, yes it is a needed addition to the far NE quadrant of the city.

Cafebouef- thank you for the posts about the bond issues. You and I know that they are very complex issues that are mired even further by city politics. I attempted to simplify it down to get to the final point that 10 years post approval of the bond is too long. Next time I assure you I'll cut and paste directly from the legal text, NFPA standards etc.....

How do you go from Downtown to way out on Hogback road is what I don't get. They aren't even in close proximity, it's not like they moved it over by the OUHSC or something, they moved it across county.

Is the station that used to be at about 30th and Phillips still there (8's?)?

Flintysooner, can you be a little more specific? 30th and Phillips? 8's has always been in the 1900 blk of Exchange. Station 2 was located at 211 N. Walnut and was relocated to Bryant and Britton. Station 3 was at 1111. North Hudson and relocated to 116th and North MacArthur. All about the growth.

Flintysooner, can you be a little more specific? 30th and Phillips? 8's has always been in the 1900 blk of Exchange. Station 2 was located at 211 N. Walnut and was relocated to Bryant and Britton. Station 3 was at 1111. North Hudson and relocated to 116th and North MacArthur. All about the growth.I'm probably thinking about 40 years but I recall a station about NE 30th or NE 36th and Phillips. Long time ago

I think you mean old station 18, Just east of Lincoln on NE 36th. Relocated to 4100 blk of Prospect in the early 90's.

Flinty,
That was old station 18 that was moved to NE 40th and Prospect around 1990. The building is still standing and is in use by the 5th Quarter (Black FF's association).

Also went back to Cafe's post on priorities from the 2006 study to refresh my memory. Here were the timelines from the recommendations with my personal comments in ( ).


Budget Year Number Recommendation Page
FY 2008 8 Priority #1 –Construct a new fire station at the intersection of Reno Avenue
and Lincoln Avenue in the “Bricktown” district. pg.80 (Being constructed now and will be new station 6)

FY 2008 9 Priority #2 – Relocate Station 6 from is current location to a location on the
Northwest corner of Henney and Memorial Streets. Redeploy the Tanker from Station 21 to the new Station 6 pg.81 (the topic of this thread, actually named station 4 and was opened last week with BP & Engine. Staffed tanker not currently housed there.)

FY 2009 11 Priority #3 – Relocate Station 4 from its current location to a location on the Northwest corner of Council and 104th Street. pg.85 (not complete, not sure if land has been purchased or not)

FY 2010 14 Deploy a new Rescue ladder Company at Station 28. pg.87 (not complete, still being discussed)

FY 2011 12 Priority #4 – Construct and deploy a new Paramedic Engine Company in the area of Richland and 59th Street pg 85 (not complete, not sure if land has been purchased or not)

FY 2013 13 Priority #5 – Construct and deploy a new Paramedic Engine Company and Tanker at Douglas and 149th Street. pg 85 (not complete, not sure if land has been purchased or not)

So in all fairness to the city, they are only 2 years behind in the studies recommendation on priority #2, 3 years behind on priority #1 and a still to be seen approach on the remainder priorities. The study was complete in Sept. of 2006. Total incidents for the city were just over 66,000 in 2005. OCFD just hit over 62,000 incidents today and is on track to top 80,000. The people needing help don't seem to understand that the city is behind on the priority list and just keep calling. The men and women of the OCFD keep answering the calls with less people than were in the department in 2006 and people wonder why they are vocal for what is needed to protect our community?

Flinty,
That was old station 18 that was moved to NE 40th and Prospect around 1990. The building is still standing and is in use by the 5th Quarter (Black FF's association).Thanks, I remember now, 18. At least it had an 8 in it.

That's good information in the remainder of your post, too.

Since this is the most recent Fire thread... General question. What happened to Engine 5? I see a new engine, but I didn't think the previous one was that old. Maybe I'm mistaken. I miss the Federal Signal siren on the previous unit.

Engine 5 is a 2005 or 2007 E-one. The previous Engine 5 was a 1990 E-one and prior to that a 1984 American LaFrance. Not sure about the siren.

If i remember right a few months ago E5 was i believe checking fire hydrants when they were rearended cause it to be shipped to E one because of the damage. Since then thay have it back and yes it does look new but i think it might be refurbished from the one that was in the accident. It does have new lights and the new paint job as the new engine and ladders have.