About six years ago, the city of Bellevue came across a good deal for a fire engine. The city paid $35,000 for a truck from Ada County that cost $250,000 new. The only problem was that it did not fit into the fire station.
"We cut the bumper off to fit it in, but there was still so little room that it hit the back wall again and again," said Bellevue Fire Chief Greg Beaver.
Beaver said the decision to buy the truck was made before he was chief, but that he has been dealing with the results of the decision ever since. He cut a section of interior siding from the back wall of the station to accommodate a ladder on the truck, but even that has not been enough.
Light is visible through cracks in the wall. In addition, posts holding the building up are askew and makeshift insulation efforts do little to keep the building warm in winter.
"I keep it at 40 degrees in here during the winter, just warm enough that the water in the engines does not freeze. Most fire stations are kept at room temperature," Beaver said.
Before the insulation efforts it cost about $1,000 a month to heat the building. Now it costs about $400 a month.
Bellevue pays nothing to house about $500,000 worth of fire-fighting apparatus in the building, owned jointly by Blaine County and Martin Chandler, owner of Guffy's market next door.
"To tell you the truth, I don't think this building would pass a fire code inspection, and I am the fire chief," Beaver said.
The City Council granted the Fire Department an alley encroachment permit to extend portions of the back wall of the station up to four feet into the alley.
"This has become a snow-load issue," City Administrator Tom Blanchard said, indicating that the fire station may not survive another winter in its current state.
Beaver said he thinks the city should have a plan for identifying property and raising funds for a new fire station, one that he could use to go after federal grants.
"There are grants available, but you have to have a plan in place," he said.
City Councilman Shaun Mahoney said at a City Council meeting Thursday that the ramshackle condition of the fire station was "part of the charm of Bellevue."
"A new fire station would cost $3 million. We don't build things we can't pay for," Mahoney said. "Maybe with fire department consolidation some of these goals can be achieved."
Beaver said in an interview that the Bellevue fire station once housed engines from both the Bellevue Fire Department and Wood River Fire & Rescue.
He said it's not friction among the three south-valley fire departments that is an obstacle to consolidation.
"They say the departments fight, but we don't fight," Beaver said. "The people who fight are the ones writing the checks, the elected officials."
Tony Evans tevans@mtexpress.com
Bellevue Fire Chief Greg Beaver shows the front of the city’s fire engine, which was modified to make the vehicle fit into the station. The license plate has to be displayed in the front window. Photo by Willy Cook
