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Stranger fire department planning new station

By Caroline Trowbridge - | Oct 25, 2000

In an effort to provide better fire protection and lower insurance costs for some residents, the Stranger Township Fire Department plans to construct a second station.

The township encompasses the area bounded roughly by Hemphill Road, 211th Street, Dempsey Road and 171st Street.

“Because of the way our township is laid out, we`re roughly 50 square miles, so we`re 10 miles long and five miles wide,” said Ben Hayes, township fire chief.

The fire department operates out of a building at 195th Street and U.S. Highway 24-40. It was constructed there because it was close to the center of the township, on a hard-surface road and land was available.

But that means some people in the northern portion of the township aren`t within five road-miles of the fire station, which is required if they are to receive a better insurance rating. So plans call for construction of a 1,280-square-foot two-bay substation near the intersection of Leavenworth County Road 5 and Hollingsworth Road.

“It`s just a truck station,” Hayes said. “That will allow us to get the folks in the northern end a better insurance rating. Plus it would take care of a possible situation that could develop if Stranger Creek floods. If the creek would come over State Avenue and come over County Road 5, we would still have trucks in the northern area of the townships. The trucks coming out of the other station wouldn`t be able to get there. We`re trying to kill two birds with one stone.”

Presently the fire department is taking bids on the building. Hayes said he hoped it could be completed within the next year for less than $20,000. The building would be constructed near the former Maginnis School.

It`s possible the department could secure an interest-free loan through the U.S. Department of Agriculture that would be administered by the Leavenworth-Jefferson REA office. That loan would cover about 80 percent of the project, which also includes purchase of a new pumper.

“The new pumper would go in the central station, and we`d move the current pumper to the north station,” Hayes said.

The fire department`s long-range plans call for a second substation in the southern portion of the township, Hayes said.